FATE OF AFC HOUSE KNOWN FRIDAY

By Zulhilmi Supaat

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Bernama) -- The fate of the Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) headquarters, famously known as AFC House in Bukit Jalil,
would be known this Friday.

That's when 46 AFC members vote for a FIFA executive committee seat during
its 23rd Congress to be held here.

The seat, currently held by AFC president Mohamed Hammam from Qatar since
taking over from Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Sultan Ahmad
Shah in 2000, is being challenged by Bahrain Football Association president
Sheikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa.

Asia has four seats on FIFA's Executive Committee, the 24-man body which
decides the host country for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

The four Asian seats now are being held by South Korea's Dr Chung
Kong-Joon, Japan's Junji Ogura (East Asia), Thailand's Woradi
Makudi (Southeast Asia) and Mohammad Hammam (West Asia).

The West Asian seat is the only one up for grabs in Friday's election.
Mohamed Hammam had earlier vowed to step down as AFC head if he lost to
Sheikh Salman. If Sheikh Salman wins, the AFC House would be saved and would not
be relocated.

The Bahraini, meanwhile, has pledged to retain the AFC House in Bukit Jalil
if he topples Hammam, and automatically gets elected as AFC's representative
for West Asia on FIFA's executive council.

The AFC executive council at its meeting here in September, last year, had
opened the bidding to 46 member countries to propose a new location for the AFC
headquarters. The bidding was closed on Oct 31.

It is understood that among the countries interested to be the new
headquarters for AFC are Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.

Most of the AFC members then gave negative feedback to the suggestion of
relocation of the AFC House, saying that the decision did not reflect the stand
of the other members.

Among the top leaders who are against the decision are FIFA vice-president
from South Korea, Dr Chung Kong-Joon who felt that Mohammed Hammam
should consider the history and size of the Asian continent before announcing
the proposed relocation of the AFC headquarters to another country.

According to Dr Chung, Mohammed Hammam's decision was unwise and did not
reflect the stand of other members.

"I wonder where he got the idea. Most of the time, Mohammed Hammam seems
to be acting on his own," he said.

Another prominent figure, former general secretary of AFC Peter
Vellapan from Malaysia who had served the confederation for 30 years, recently
said:

"It is a total disrespect to all Malaysian leaders and staff who have
worked very hard to develop and promote football in Asia. The president
obviously does not understand the history and culture of Asian football.

"The AFC is what it is today due to the leadership, hard work and
contributions of Malaysian leaders and support from the government."

The late Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first prime minister, had served as
AFC president for 24 years, followed by Hamzah Abu Samah for 16 years
and Sultan Ahmad Shah for eight years before Hammam took over.

The AFC secretariat which started functioning from Hong Kong after the
formation of the governing body in Manila, Philippines, on May 8, 1954, moved to
Penang, Malaysia, in 1965.

The secretariat moved again 10 years later, this time to Ipoh but when Peter
took over the AFC reins in 1978, he set up the office in Kuala Lumpur and
22 years later, in 2000, the AFC got its own building in Bukit Jalil.

On the local front, Sultan Ahmad Shah has stated that FAM would not appeal
on the AFC's decision but would only ask the board members to reconsider the
decision.

Should Sheikh Salman win this Friday, the AFC House will stay at Bukit
Jalil.

-- BERNAMA