By John Duerden in Kuala Lumpur
May 2 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter congratulated Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa for his “brilliant election” victory to the Presidency of the Asian Football Confederation but not before cautioning that Asian football had to put its house in order.
Addressing the Extraordinary Congress of the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur just before Salman won a landslide victory Blatter declared that the real restart will come in the next presidential election, scheduled for January 2015 in Australia.
“Your confederation has been in a difficult situation during the past two years, together you have overcome all these difficulties and you are now are in the situation where you are going to have a restart,” said Blatter.
“I identify this restart as a intermediary restart and then the right start will be in 2015 and you have two more years to put you house in such an order that the AFC can play its part, the part that Asian football and Asia deserves.”
As well as promising to help Asia rid itself of the “devils in football” such as racism, match-fixing and violence, Blatter also paid tribute to acting president Zhang Jilong for his two years in charge of the confederation, handing the Chinese administrator a FIFA pennant.
“The period was not always easy; maybe we should now regret that he is no longer in this position but it is his decision to step back.”
After Salman was elected, Blatter said that he “will have to ensure is that unity prevails within the AFC. Unity, as well as solidarity, are absolutely key and necessary pillars for any institution to build solid plans and structure for its future.”
“With two thirds of the world population, Asia clearly plays a huge role in the international football community. But it certainly has not reached its full potential. AFC shall unite its energies to continue to strengthen the growth of the game in Asia.”
Blatter suggested Sheikh Salman’s second victory for an executive committee seat was required by protocol, saying AFC statutes would be changed at Friday’s Congress. ”(Tomorrow) they will change the statutes and you will see that they will introduce that the president of the confederation must have a seat,” Blatter told reporters.
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