By Paul Nicholson
September 28 – The sensational abandonment of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) extraordinary congress yesterday has drawn something of an ambivalent response from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the man the action was intended to send a clear message to.
Unveiling the logo for next year’s under-17 World Cup in India, Infantino gave the clear message back that he might not have heard the one sent – or he is so comfortable in his management of the governing body that he just doesn’t care.
“We are going through a reform process in FIFA, the confederations are going through a reform process as well,” Infantino told reporters.
“This takes discussions, this takes time, this takes meetings, postponement of meetings as well. This is simply part of a process football is going through these days.”
It is a strange “process” that abandons a Congress of 45 member associations after just 27 minutes having gone to the expense of gathering them all in one location for the primary purpose of electing three new members to the FIFA Council. FIFA is understood to have been caught by surprise at the strength of the unified voice and message that the AFC sent, and at press time still seemed to be stunned into silence, having not issued any formal statement.
It was never the intention or the plan of the AFC to abort its Congress so abruptly after having assembled in Goa, however members voted to do so after FIFA’s election committee – under the guidance of new audit and compliance chief Slovenian Tomas Vesel – banned Qatari Saoud Al-Mohannadi from the election because of an ongoing ethics investigation, leaving insufficient time for new candidates to put themselves forward for election.
Quite when the AFC will reconvene is unclear but one opportunity to hold an elective Congress could be around the AFC Awards in Abu Dhabi in November. The three AFC seats to fill at the FIFA Council meeting in October will remain vacant.
Who stands in the election when it eventually happens is unclear. Al-Mohannadi is both an active and popular figure within the AFC and would likely have won election to the FIFA Council if he had been allowed to stand. It is understood that FIFA’s executive would rather not have him there and hence used (abused) the ethics process to ensure he could not stand. When he didn’t withdraw from the process voluntarily FIFA stepped in at the last minute to manipulate the process with Vesel administering the blunt instrument. This would also improve the odds of their preferred candidates from Singapore and Iran being elected if the vote had gone ahead.
One AFC insider who preferred not to be named told Insideworldfootball: “There seems to one rule in operation for the Europeans of the old world and a different one for us in Asia. Al Mohannadi is under investigation for non-co-operation but has not been banned, but has been prevented in standing as our representative. How does this match with UEFA whose Villar (Spanish FA president Maria Angel Villar Llona) was actually convicted and fined €25,000 for the same offence Al Mohannadi was accused of, but was still allowed to stand for the UEFA presidency. It seems there are different rules for our European friends.”
The message that Infantino does not seem to be hearing is that the Asians will not readily accept manipulation by his administration to get the results and committees that work for them.
While that manipulation certainly worked in the CONCACAF elections with the removal of odds-on favourite of Caribbean Football Union president Gordon Derrick from the confederation presidential running, and so clearing the way for the more ‘palatable’ Canadian Victor Montagliani to win, the Asian member associations are not prepared to accept political interference from FIFA in the running of their football.
This is a serious political and integrity issue for FIFA if it is to have any credibility and trust in its reform process and newly elected leadership. Currently that trust has worn very thin through a series of high-handed and politically motivated FIFA decisions as the administration purges its membership and own staff. The AFC is not alone in its discomfort but with comments like those made after the AFC Congress debacle, the signs are that FIFA’s new president has a troublesome hearing problem.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1715519081labto1715519081ofdlr1715519081owedi1715519081sni@n1715519081osloh1715519081cin.l1715519081uap1715519081
