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Wednesday, 19 November 2014 00:35 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
President of the Asian Football Confederation Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa with South Asian football representatives
“Sri Lankan football is honoured by the presence of so many distinguished visitors and we know that their presence will give local football a much-needed lift and serving as encouragement for both young and old footballers island-wide,” FFSL President Ranjith Rodrigo said.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which is the governing body of association football in Asia, has 47 member countries, mostly located in Asia. All transcontinental countries with territories in Europe and Asia are members of UEFA (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey).
One of FIFA’s six continental confederations, the AFC was officially formed on 8 May 1954 in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines of the second Asian Games. The 12 founding members were Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. The main headquarters of the AFC are located in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The AFC runs the Asian Cup, which is a competition for the national football teams of Asia held every four years, as well as the Asian World Cup Qualifying Tournament and the AFC Challenge Cup. 
It also stages the Asian Olympics qualifying tournament. In addition, the AFC runs three levels of annual international club competitions. The most prestigious (and oldest of the current AFC club competitions) is the AFC Champions League tournament, based on the UEFA Champions League, formed in 2002/03 with the amalgamation of the Asian Champions Cup and the Asian Cup Winners Cup. An Asian Super Cup competition between the winners of these two major tournaments ended with the birth of the AFC Champions League.
Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has been AFC President since 2 May 2013. Before his election he was President of the Bahrain Football Association and also Chairman of the Asian Football Confederation Disciplinary Committee and Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
A member of the Bahrain Royal Family, he graduated from the University of Bahrain in 1992 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and History. Shaikh Salman has been involved in football for many years dating back to the 1980s when he played in the youth team of the Bahrain Division I team, Riffa Club.
Sheikh Salman left Riffa Club to focus on his studies before holding executive positions at the BFA. In 1996 he was appointed Chairman of the national team, elected Vice President two years later and eventually became the football association’s president in 2002.
He has also served as the Co-Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee at several FIFA tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Beach Tournaments, FIFA Club Championships, etc. He was also Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee at Beijing in 2008.
FIFA lodges criminal complaint re 2018 and 2022 World CupsZURICH, Nov 18 (Reuters) - World soccer’s governing body FIFA on Tuesday lodged a criminal complaint over the “possible misconduct of individual persons” in connection with the awarding of hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Last Thursday FIFA said there were no grounds to reopen the controversial bidding processes, following a long-awaited report compiled by chairman of the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee Michael Garcia. However, FIFA president Sepp Blatter confirmed on Tuesday that, on the recommendation of FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, it was “his duty” to lodge a complaint to the Swiss courts. Former U.S. attorney Garcia said last week that the governing body had misrepresented his findings, plunging FIFA into a fresh crisis after continued misgivings about how Russia and Qatar were handed the next two World Cups. |
