Sheik Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was re-elected as president of the Asian Football Confederation on Thursday. The 47-member Asian body also elected Olympic powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah of Kuwait to a seat on the FIFA executive committee. Sheik Ahmad, who chose to run for a two-year mandate instead of four, is widely seen as a potential FIFA president in 2019. Both candidates were elected unopposed. Sheik Salman also gets the FIFA vice presidency allocated to Asia. Both of his positions have a four-year mandate. The FIFA position had been held by Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan since an election in 2011. The AFC changed its statutes last year to give it automatically to the president. Prince Ali chose not to challenge Sheik Salman, nor seek a FIFA executive committee seat. Instead, he is a candidate in the FIFA presidential election on May 29 where 79-year-old incumbent Sepp Blatter is strongly favored to get a fifth term in office. Sheik Salman has led the AFC since 2013, when he was elected to take over for Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. FIFA expelled Bin Hammam for alleged mismanagement of AFC finances. In an earlier speech to delegates, Blatter praised Sheik Salman for his ''remarkable sense of organization and diplomacy.'' Blatter said the Bahraini royal family member has brought back ''the boat of the Asian Football Confederation that at a certain time has been in waters that were not so very clear or ... so very clean.'' (For more sports news andupdates, followAhramOnlineSportson Twitter at@AO_Sportsand onFacebookatAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/129028.aspx
