Dubai: The UAE's Yousuf Al Serkal is in the process of working towards a consolidated front from the Gulf and Arab region as part of his preparations for contesting for the continent's biggest post in football.
"Basically, I am overlooking things on a day-to-day basis and internally we have managed to achieve a lot for our candidature," Al Serkal told Gulf News.
"I am very clear about one thing, and that is the need for this part of Asia to have a consensus candidate rather than two contesting for the post of president. There has been an intention from Shaikh Salman [Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa] of Bahrain and we need to ensure there is one candidate from the Gulf and Arab world for next year's elections," Al Serkal said.
Early announcement
With AFC chief Mohammad Bin Hammam barred by world governing body Fifa from participating in football related activity over his alleged involvement in bribery, Al Serkal has been one of the early candidates preparing to take over the highest football post in the continent.
Zhang Jilong of China is the interim AFC president until fresh elections are held to the post in the middle of 2012. AFC has given Bin Hammam 12 months to prove his innocence.
Al Serkal, once president of the UAE Football Association (UAE FA), is currently one of four vice-presidents along with Prince Abdullah Bin Sultan Ahmad Shah (Malaysia), Moya Dodd (Australia) and Ganesh Thapa (Nepal).
"When the elections are announced, whenever that happens, it would be nice to have just one candidate from this part of Asia contesting for the AFC presidency," Al Serkal said.
"We have worked out a budget for the elections and I believe there is still a long way for me to go as far as this is concerned. And I also admit that it may be too early for me to make some sort of firm comment on my candidature. But it is important that we stay prepared for the moment when the announcement is finally made," Al Serkal said.
The UAE FA has come out openly in favour of its former president with Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi going on record to back Al Serkal's candidature for the AFC position.
