By Paul Nicholson
February 1 – Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was elected by acclamation for a fourth time period as president of the Asian Soccer Confederation (AFC) at its 33rd Congress right now in Salman’s residence nation of Bahrain.
His first time period in 2013 was filling in an unexpired time period following the disgraced departure of Mohamed bin Hamman. Since then Salman has been elected unopposed in 2015, 2019 and once more in 2023. This can be his final four-year interval in cost.
Addressing the congress Salman thanked member associations for giving him the chance to steer once more, whereas saying that Asia is “delighted” that FIFA president Gianni Infantino can be re-elected for his personal four-year time period subsequent month at FIFA’s congress.
“I want to thank all of you for placing your religion in me for one more four-year time period. It humbles me to have one other probability to steer this confederation…I hope I can reside as much as your expectations,” stated Salman.
Salman additionally praised the efficiency of Asian groups on the Qatar 2022 World Cup. “Asia stood tall amongst the world’s elite. Our groups delivered the perfect ever efficiency at a World Cup.”
“World consideration stays in Asia for the Ladies’s World Cup. Asia has confirmed a capability to ship and can proceed to take action within the coming years,” he continued.
Praising the organisation of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he referenced that the “stage is ready for the Asian Cup 2023 (the match can be performed in January 2024). I’m sure we are going to witness a beautiful pageant.”
Returning to the work of the AFC he referenced “floor breaking reforms” throughout the AFC as competitions have been adjusted and a number of governance, instructional and coaching programmes initiated.
He stated that the AFC continues “to impress each on and off the sector”. In the end it’s on the sector that could be a key measure of the AFC’s success and Salman stated they need to hold working to slender the hole between member associations and “increase the general normal to compete extra efficiently on the worldwide stage as we did at Qatar 2022.
“Our dedication to members has solely grown stronger,” stated Salman. “We are able to look ahead to 2023 and past with better hope.”
A kind of massive initiatives for the longer term is the brand new FIFA supported FIFA-AFC Stadium to be in-built Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Closing the congress, Salman stated the AFC has an amazing basis on which to construct and that he was “assured we will take Asian soccer to better heights. Milestones have been achieved however there may be a lot extra to attain.”
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