Manama, Bahrain: A pair of shaikhs were the big winners on Thursday at a meeting of Asian football leaders.

Shaikh Ahmad Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, an Olympic powerbroker from Kuwait, was elected to Fifa’s powerful executive committee, fuelling speculation the former OPEC chairman could one day succeed Sepp Blatter as president of football’s governing body. And, minutes earlier, Bahrain royal family member Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was re-elected as president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The two shaikhs, who both ran unopposed, are allies of each other and Blatter.

The elections were watched from the front row by Blatter, who is strongly favoured to win his own re-election contest on May 29.

Blatter, a long-time International Olympic Committee colleague of the 51-year-old Shaikh Ahmad, would be 83 when his expected fifth Fifa presidential term ends in 2019.

The UAE will be represented on the continental body by Major General Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, Deputy General Commander of Abu Dhabi Police, who on Thursday became a member of the AFC executive committee.

Shaikh Ahmad was elected after a rule change worked in his favour, and after four rival candidates stood aside to give him a clear run. By winning the two-year Fifa mandate, he set himself up to run again in 2017. That would clear his campaign schedule for a possible Blatter succession ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The Kuwaiti built strong campaigning links as long-time head of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and, since 2012, as president of the Association of National Olympic Committees. He was seen as a key supporter of IOC President Thomas Bach’s election victory in 2013.

Thursday’s elections confirmed Asia’s close ties to the Fifa leadership four years after then-AFC president Mohammad Bin Hammam’s failed election challenge against Blatter.

With Shaikh Salman’s election as AFC president, the 49-year-old Bahraini also automatically gets the Fifa vice presidency allocated to Asia. That position was previously held by Prince Ali Bin Al Hussain of Jordan, who is running against Blatter.

Shaikh Salman has led the 47-nation AFC since 2013, taking over from Bin Hammam, a Qatari who Fifa expelled for alleged mismanagement of AFC finances. Bin Hammam beat Shaikh Salman in a bitter contest in 2009 for a seat on the Fifa executive committee amid accusations of improper lobbying among Asian Olympic officials.

In a speech to delegates on Thursday, Blatter praised Shaikh Salman for his “remarkable sense of organisation and diplomacy.”

Blatter said the Bahraini royal family member brought back “the boat of the Asian Football Confederation that at a certain time has been in waters that were not so very clear or ... so very clean.”

Blatter did not mention his upcoming election, and the AFC chose not to give the stage to his three rivals who all attended in Bahrain: Prince Ali, Dutch federation president Michael van Praag and former Portugal great Luis Figo.

Prince Ali chose not to challenge Shaikh Salman in Thursday’s election, nor seek a Fifa executive committee seat. His Fifa vice presidency was effectively lost when the AFC changed its statutes last year to automatically give it to the elected president.

Asia’s four elected Fifa delegates will take part in a key World Cup debate in Zurich on May 30.

Fifa’s executive committee must agree on each continent’s quota of qualifying places for future World Cups. Asia has four guaranteed places in the 32-team lineup, plus a chance to get a fifth in an intercontinental play-off.

Blatter has encouraged confederations to seek more entries, likely taking from Europe’s quota of 13 qualifying slots.