Al Sarkal keeps presidency of UAE FA
Wins by overwhelming margin of votes
Abu Dhabi: Yousuf Al Sarkal scored an emphatic victory to win the presidency of the UAE FA for the next four years, having defeated his opponent Abdullah Hareb with an overwhelming margin of 26-2 votes.
It was almost a one-horse race as Al Sarkal secured the majority of votes (16) even before his opponent got his first one as the hall of the National Centre of Documents and Research starting applauding his victory before the end of verifying the rest of the votes.
Al Sarkal, who is also running for the presidency of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) said after his big victory. "I was always confident of my chances because of the good relationships I have with the clubs and the officials from my previous work as an FA Chairman. I thank all those who supported me and my victory which was almost unanimous is a clear and significant message to Asia that I have all the support of my government and my clubs to win the continental elections.
"My priorities for the near future is to prepare the country's Olympic Team in a way that guarantee honourable representation of the UAE in the London Olympic Games and appointing a good and famous coach for the senior team and then increasing the professional clubs in the top league to 14 and I do hope that the clubs will support this issue because it will help improve the competition and increase the number of professional clubs which will benefit the national teams," Al Sarkal said.
It was Al Sarkal who first announced the UAE league would turn professional in 2008, the same year in which he resigned from office.
Mohammad Thani Al Rumaithi, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Jazira club, won the Vice-President elections together with Obaid Salem Al Shamsi. Al Rumaithi who took over as the Chairman of Al Jazira in 2006 confirmed he will resign from the club at the end of the season.
