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(Sports)Asian football chief to run for FIFA president

Xinhua, October 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Monday that its president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has decided to join the presidential race for FIFA, the world football governing body.

Shaikh Salman "informed the AFC Executive Committee that he has put his name forward in the FIFA Presidential Election 2016," AFC said in a statement.

It said the Executive Committee has offered "overwhelming support" to Shaikh Salman, who assured that his campaign will be entirely self-financed and that he will not use the AFC resources in the election.

Shaikh Salman was re-elected as the AFC president in April. He was initially elected at the 25th Ordinary Congress in 2013, following the suspension of former AFC chief Bin Hamman.

The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) confirmed earlier that the scandal-ridden world football governing body would hold an extraordinary congress to elect the new president on Feb. 26, 2016, following the decisions by its ethics committee to provisionally banned FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter, European football chief and FIFA vice-president Michel Platini, and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke for a period of 90 days.

Jordanian Prince Ali Ben Al Hussein has since officially announced his candidacy for FIFA president. Endit