Prince Ali wins FIFA vice presidency

JT and Agence France-Presse

AMMAN/DOHA - His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday congratulated HRH Prince Ali, who was elected earlier in the day as FIFA vice president.

In a phone call with the Prince following the election that took place in Doha, His Majesty said that the “success of Prince Ali is a success for each Jordanian man and woman”, voicing confidence in the wide experience of the Prince in football and his ability to take the game to a new level at the Arab, Asian and international levels, according to a Royal Court statement.

The Prince was quoted in the statement as thanking King Abdullah and stressing that “the achievement would not have been made without the support His Majesty extended to Prince Ali since he announced his nomination for the post”.

The Prince, who has been the president of the Jordan Football Association for a decade and who holds the same role at the increasingly influential West Asian Football Federation, said that he would exert his utmost efforts to make positive change in Arab and Asian football and act “as the best representative of Jordan and the Arabs in the international sports circles”.

Prime Minister Samir Rifai also called Prince Ali to congratulate him, voicing the “government’s pride in such an achievement”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Prince Ali told a press conference after the vote that he is committed to making good on promises he made during his election campaign, Petra reported.

“I nominated myself to support the youth sector,” he said, “We have to build an Asian sports base that is competitive enough to win international tournaments.”

His Highness received a flow of cables congratulating him for the new post, the agency said.

Prince Ali stunned powerful South Korean Chung Mong-joon by unseating him as FIFA vice president while Mohamad Ben Hammam won another term as Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief.

Chung, the controlling shareholder in industrial giant Hyundai Heavy Industries, a major sponsor of the world football body, had been in the job since 1994 and was widely expected to retain the role.

But in a vote of the AFC’s 45 eligible members at their congress in Doha, the Prince won 25-20.

It was a big upset with rumors flying that Chung, 59, was to launch a campaign to unseat Sepp Blatter as FIFA president later in the year, someone he has previously feuded with.

Chung supported an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Blatter 10 years ago amid allegations of financial impropriety from the collapse of a marketing company that worked for FIFA.

He reopened the wounds just months ago when he insisted change at the top was in the interests of football’s world governing body.

Now that he is no longer among the FIFA hierarchy, he cannot run for the top job.

The Prince, son of the late King Hussein and late Queen Alia, becomes the youngest member of the FIFA executive committee at the age of 35 after rallying Arab support behind him.

“There has been a lot of division within Asian football and I want to bring a unity,” Prince Ali said ahead of the vote.

“It’s a very big continent and too much of the time too many people in the game have been left to themselves. I want to change this - and I think people understand my vision,” he added.

“We need to communicate more effectively both between ourselves and with the other confederations,” the Prince said.

“I, personally, have good connections to UEFA, to Africa and to the Americas and we can only all gain the more we work together. I see my job as being one of bridging gaps.”

Hammam, meanwhile, won a new four-year term as AFC president and vowed to take the game to a new level.

The Qatari, who has been in the job since 2002, was elected unopposed until 2015.

Another seen as potential successor to Blatter, Hammam has been instrumental in changing the face of Asian football.

The 61-year-old is seen as a modernizer who has overseen the launch of the AFC Champions League and the admission of Australia into the confederation.

“While Asia has not yet taken over the world, the rumblings of Asia can now be felt. We strongly believe that the future is Asia and we are working very hard towards the future,” he said.

“We must push our limits and challenge the status quo.”

In other votes, Thailand’s Worawi Makudi retained his seat on FIFA’s influential executive committee and Sri Lanka’s Vernon Manilal Fernando won the vote to replace the retiring Junji Ogura of Japan.

Another Japanese, Kohzo Tashima, and China’s Zhang Jilong had also been in the race.

The AFC is the biggest football confederation in the world with 46 members.

7 January 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=33257.