World Soccer - UK (2019-12)

SPOTLIGHT ON...

Sheikh SALMAN bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa

Bahrain, AFC president, FIFA vice-president

The success of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al

Khalifa in heading up the Asian confederation

since 2013 has been enabled partly by the

political and financial aggression of the Gulf’s

oil- and gas-rich states...and partly by the

political inertia of China, Japan and South

Korea in the Far East.

Salman, a scion of the ruling royal family

of Bahrain, was born on November 2, 1965

and had played football as a teenager with

no great success. This was to be found,

instead, around the corridors of power

where his eminence opened doors.

Winning the AFC presidency in 2013 was

no simple matter. First, other hopefuls had

to be persuaded to step aside, then Bahrain

and his own human-rights records came

under international media fire. Salman

himself had to refute claims that

national-team players who took part in pro-

democracy, anti-regime protests in 2011

were arrested and tortured on his watch.

In the event, after weeks of accusations

and counter-accusations, Salman won with a

two-thirds majority in the first round of voting

in Kuala Lumpur. He also defeated Hassan

Al Thawadi of Qatar for a seat on the FIFA

executive committee. Within two years he had

moved to ensure that, in the future, the AFC

president should also hold the region’s FIFA

vice-presidency. Game, set and match.

Obtaining the presidency was the toughest

job and Salman has barely put a foot wrong in

consolidating his power, including re-election

in both 2015 and 2019. The only setback

was in losing to Gianni Infantino in the FIFA

election in 2016. But, even then, Salman

pushed the Swiss-Italian to a second round.

The future for Asian football is bright. China

hosts Infantino’s first redeveloped Club World

Cup in 2021 and Qatar stages its World Cup

in 2022. If all goes well under the glare of the

world spotlight then Salman might even start

thinking again about the FIFA presidency.

Keir Radnedge

Salman has barely put a foot wrong in consolidating

his power, including re-election in both 2015 and 2019