An Asian football congress to elect representatives to the FIFA Council "closed after just 20 minutes on Tuesday after members rejected the agenda in protest at a Qatari official being barred from the poll," according to the AFP. Members voted 42 to one against supporting the agenda at the meeting in Goa, "which meant the ballot to elect three new members to the world body's powerful council was cancelled." Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said that it was "probably the shortest congress" he had ever chaired. He said, "It has been an eventful morning and the message is clear to us all. Now my final task is to declare the extraordinary congress closed." Delegates said that the agenda was rejected "because a senior Qatari official had been banned from standing just 24 hours before the vote was due to take place." Scandal-plagued FIFA's ethics committee last month recommended a two-and-a-half-year ban for Qatar FA VP Saoud Al-Mohannadi for "refusing to cooperate with a corruption investigation." Tuesday's debacle was witnessed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, "who beat Sheikh Salman to the job in an election in February and who was in Goa for the congress." All India Football Federation President Praful Patel said, "It was not the right way to go about things. I wish this process had been done much earlier" (AFP, 9/27).
'LOUD AND CLEAR': REUTERS' Sudipto Ganguly reported Sheikh Salman said that Asia's "stunning rebuff" of FIFA on Tuesday was a "loud and clear" message that the continent was united in its determination to defend its interests. He said, "The members spoke in one voice and delivered a loud and clear message. Everyone present here and across the world witnessed that Asia is united." Seven candidates had been announced for three additional Asian spots, one of which must go to a woman, but Al-Mohannadi was "suddenly disqualified from the contest on Sunday, two days before the vote." Disquiet over the lateness of the move, "which prevented any new candidates declaring, was the main talking point in the corridors of the congress hotel on the eve of the vote and the mood of the delegates was made clear on Tuesday" (REUTERS, 9/27).
