Yousuf Al Sarkal UAE Football Association presidency ambitions boosted

Abu Dhabi: The chances of the UAE Football Association president, Yousuf Al Sarkal, winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) presidency election received a boost when one of his fellow candidates said he might withdraw from the running for the post.

Dr. Hafez Al Medlej, of Saudi Arabia, one of the four candidates for the role along with Bahrain’s Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Worawi Makudi from Thailand, said: “I might withdraw in favour of Al Sarkal. He is the favourite to win the elections and there is complete mutual understanding, agreement and co-ordination between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in this regard.”

In response to the comments of Dr. Al Medlej, Al Sarkal said: “An agreement is expected to be reached between us in order to have one candidate from the West Asia zone. I am sorry that Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim did not show any interest in meeting us in Amman to choose one candidate for the region.

“Makud has the support of 12 countries from the ASEAN, while Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabbah, the President of the Olympic Council of Asia, has confirmed his support to Shaikh Salman, but I have confidence in my chances and I feel optimistic.”

Regarding his campaign, Al Sarkal said “Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Honorary President of the UAE FA, is following all my steps and preparations closely, and in the near future my campaign committee will be announced and it will feature a representative from the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, local media and other individuals in addition to myself.

“An international company which specialises in such campaigns will be appointed to organise the campaign and I will hold a press conference to unveil my programme and vision for Asian football.”

Al Sarkal will visit Switzerland on March 27 to meet Sepp Blatter, the President of Fifa, in Zurich to explain his plans and vision for Asian Football. “Blatter has a great influence in the AFC elections,” Al Sarkal said following a meeting of the UAE FA on Monday in Dubai.

“I will tell him about my plans to develop the game in Asia and fight corruption. Everything is prepared for the visit and I am optimistic I will have the support of the world football governing body.”

Al Sarkal also thanked the Iranian FA for confirming its support to him for the May 2 elections, saying: “I will visit some Asian countries to talk about my plans and vision. I have already visited 70 per cent of the members of the AFC and there are countries which I don’t need to visit because either they have already confirmed their support to me or they have shown their support to my other competitors.”