East Asian football fed backs Bin Hammam
Football federation throw support behind Mohamed Bin Hammam in his campaign to oust Sepp Blatter as FIFA boss.
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| Bin Hammam is hoping to become the first Asian boss of FIFA [AFP] |
Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam has received the backing of the East Asian Football Federation in his bid to become the boss of FIFA, world football’s governing body.
“The EAFF Executive Committee, at its meeting held in Seoul on 19 March 2011, has unanimously welcomed the decision of Mr. Mohamed bin Hammam, president of AFC, to stand for the presidency of FIFA,” said the statement from the EAFF on Tuesday.
“Mr. Chung Yun CHO, president of EAFF, has also expressed his full support for the election of Mr. Mohamed bin Hammam as the new FIFA President.”
Gaining support
Bin Hammam announced his candidacy at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur in March, ending months of speculation about his attempt to become the first Asian president of FIFA.
“After careful study, consideration… armed with my love for football I have decided to contest in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections scheduled in June 2011,” Bin Hammam said at the time.
The FIFA election takes place on June 1.
Bin Hammam is posing the first challenge to current world football head Sepp Blatter in nearly a decade.
The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) virtually assured its support to Bin Hammam during the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief’s visit to India last week.
The 61-year-old Qatari also has the backing of his former rival and honorary chairman of the Korean Football Association Chung Mong-joon.
In an interview with Al Jazeera in January, the Qatari said it was time to “inject fresh blood” in Fifa and criticised Blatter’s handling of speculation that the Qatar 2022 World Cup could be held in winter.
“Maybe now we got tired of always defending same opinions, same ideas, same things, so maybe we’ve reached the stage that our president, who is supposed to defend our organisation, is defenceless – he cannot anymore do it,” he said.
In his bid to become only the fourth FIFA president in half a century, he said he would support goal line technology if elected to the post. He also promised more transparency in the confederation’s decision-making.