Moataz Al Shami (Manama)
The Bahraini capital, Manama, is preparing to host the 33rd AFC Congress, which will be held tomorrow, in the presence of Gianni Infantino, President of the International Federation of Football Associations.
The congress meeting will mark the start of the third term of Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim at the presidency of the Continental Union, after he decided it by acclamation.
It is expected that the agenda of the Congress will include announcing that the Saudi file won the honor of hosting the 2027 Asian Cup, after Qatar withdrew after being assigned to the 2023 edition, and the Indian file withdrew, so that the Saudi file would decide the race in the next edition.
The keenness of the national federations in the continent to compete vigorously for the honor of hosting and organizing the Asian Cup reflects the value and importance of the tournament, especially after the great interest that the Confederation has attached to the game in that tournament, especially in the decision to increase its teams to 24 teams since the “UAE 2019” edition, which It achieved great technical and organizational successes.
And the AFC had carried out several legal reforms in this regard, by granting the General Assembly of the Confederation of the Confederation the right to choose the file hosting the Asian Cup, and despite the Corona pandemic, 5 countries submitted a request to host, but it was reduced to 3 files, which are Qatar, India and Saudi Arabia, so that the Saudis decided to host later. This will be officially announced during the AFC Congress meetings this evening.
The Congress agenda will also witness the elections for the position of Vice-President of the Union, with 5 seats, where a seat is allocated for each geographical region or “zone”, in the five regions that make up the yellow continent, namely, East Asia, West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, and ASEAN. In addition to 6 members from the continent of Asia, who are running for the FIFA Council, including a female member, and 9 additional members of the Executive Office, representing the rest of the regions, for the “membership” category.
Abdullah Nasser Al-Junaibi, First Vice President of the Football Association, President of the Professional League, is running for the elections for the executive office membership category for West Asia, and it is expected that Al-Junaibi will decide the electoral race due to his high chances, along with Adnan Darjal, President of the Iraqi Federation, and Abdullah Al-Shaheen, President of the Kuwaiti Federation. , While the Lebanese Hashem Haidar won the position of Vice President of the Asian Federation for West Asia.
