AFC Presidential Race: Al Serkal Not Worried About Asian Olympic Support for Rival

(ATR) Despite the Olympic Council of Asia endorsing Sheikh Salman for the AFC presidency, Yousuf Al Serkal launched his election manifesto today claiming he had enough support to secure the top job in Asian football.

The OCA Council led by Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al-Sabah has thrown its weight behind Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who heads the Bahrain Football Association.

Ahmad is a powerful and influential figure in Asian Olympic politics, which is closely intertwined with football politics in the region. But Al Serkal insisted at his press conference in Dubai that his campaign was on track to succeed the disgraced Mohamed Bin Hammam at the helm of the AFC.

"In the AFC we have been working for such a long time independently without any interference," said the United Arab Emirates football federation chief.

"Unfortunately this time there is an interference from the OCA. They are trying hard to influence the voting but I believe the football family would like always to be independent from this.

"We refuse any intervention in our issues. We respect other sports bodies and we never intervene in their issues."

He added: "I don’t think they will have a great influence; that is not to an extent that they will influence the voting from one candidate to another."

"All my actions show positive results, which makes me comfortable. This intervention hasn’t up to now had any effect on my campaign at all."

Al Serkal, whose other challengers for the AFC presidency are FIFA vice-president Worawi Makudi of Thailand and Saudi Arabia’s Hafez Ibrahim Al Medlej, presented his election manifesto to a small group of regional and international media.

Under his manifesto slogan ‘Football at Heart’, he laid down a challenge to his AFC presidency rivals to be transparent in declaring their salaries and benefits.

The Asian Football Confederation vice president vowed to "publicly declare all allowances and benefits given to me by the Confederation, and expenditure incurred by my office".

Al Serkal appears to have made this pledge to distance himself from the allegations of financial mismanagement at the AFC that led to the downfall of his friend Bin Hammam. The Qatari was banned for life in December by FIFA’s ethics chiefs; on the day he was sanctioned, he quit football for good.

Speaking to ATR last month, Al Serkal made a point of explaining that his close associations with Bin Hammam had never seen him implicated in the corruption allegations that swirled around the former AFC boss during the FIFA presidential race and beyond.

He did so again today, again making no attempt to disguise his friendship withBin Hammam.

"We’ve known each other for a long time and yes I am a close friend of Bin Hammam but that friendship had nothing to do with the work we used to do," he said.

"I always had different ideas and opinions and conflict in the meetings with him and once I had different opinions I would always raise it and it did not please Bin Hammam for me to raise it – but that’s who I am. I keep friendship separate from work."

After meeting with FIFA president Sepp Blatter two weeks ago in Zurich, Al Serkal’s pledge for financial transparency also sent a strong message to the Swiss and his colleagues that he was prepared to back the publication of FIFA ExCo salaries and remunerations. These form part of the outstanding reforms set to be voted on at the governing body’s FIFA Congress in Mauritius next month.

Manifesto Promises

Al Serkal included six pledges in his quest to "transform" the corruption-hit Asian Football Confederation: to reunite Asian football; improve governance; ensure a balance between professional and amateur football; decentralise AFC activities; balance revenue distribution; and embrace the diversity of Asia at AFC House.

"I’m confident I will get enough votes to win the race," Al Serkal told the news conference.

"I will not give out numbers now but I am very confident I will win."

"In the campaigning for such a post we do receive a lot of confirmation from a lot of federations and I have received enough confirmations to make me feel comfortable."

Al Serkal also said he wanted to introduce a ‘whistle blower’ programme "to allow players and officials to report in absolute confidence any irregularities – whether in match-fixing or any issue relating to football".

"I firmly believe that we are at our strongest when all 47 members stand as one. So I will appeal to the more economically and technically mature associations to work in solidarity, to ensure greater benefits to the majority of associations," he added.

"I also believe that many development programmes currently managed by the AFC from Kuala Lumpur can be driven forward by the regional federations, whilst still following the main principles set by the AFC. This approach will deliver efficiencies and speed up football development.

The UAE football boss said it was also "critical" to bridge the gap between professional and amateur football across Asia.

"So with a focus on elevating standards in our flagship competitions, it is important that more member associations participate in the AFC Asian Cup and AFC Champions League. We can do this through more hands on, local development programmes for leagues, clubs, youth and women’s football, and this is something I am absolutely committed to," he concluded.

Delegates will vote to elect a new AFC president at the confederation’s extraordinary congress in Kuala Lumpur on May 2

For more coverage, follow World Football INSIDER.

Reported in Dubai by Christian Radnedge

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