Bahrain FA President in Running to Head AFC and Clean up Asian Football

Bahrain Football Association president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa is among those runningfor the presidential role at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Salman is joined by Worawi Makudi of Thailand, Hafez Ibrahim Al Medlej of Saudi Arabia and Yousuf Al Serkal of the UAE in attempting to take over from Mohamed bin Hammam, the former president who stepped down amid allegations of corruption.

In a statement the AFC said: “The nominations will now be scrutinised and the list of candidates will be sent to the member associations one month prior to the congress.”

Zhang Jilong, AFC’s current caretaker chief announced that he would not be running for the presidency with former AFC secretary-general Peter Velappan claiming only a ‘fresh face’ would be considered.

Velappan said: “For the good of AFC and Asian football, no member of the current executive committee should run for the presidency. The reason is that all of them are very close friends of Bin Hammam and all of them contributed to the downfall of AFC and Asian football.

“Let’s have a new face.”

The presidential elections take place on May 2.