AFC President calls for unity in rebuilding FIFA

Published on: 01 March 2016

Zurich: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has written to the FIFA President, the FIFA Executive Committee and the Presidents of the regional Confederations to call for unity as they begin the long journey in ‘restoring trust, respect and confidence’ in FIFA.

Shaikh Salman pledged his support to the FIFA President Gianni Infantino as he begins the task of implementing the FIFA Reforms which were passed at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress in Zurich last Friday.

In the letters – and those sent to the AFC Executive Committee and Member Associations – Shaikh Salman expressed his pride that Asian football had already implemented many of the agreed reforms.

He added though: “These reforms represent just the start of a long journey and are essential for achieving greater professionalism, transparency and integrity for FIFA as well as all our Member Associations.

“We need FIFA to change if we are going to regain the trust, respect and confidence of those who hold our great game to heart.

“As Presidents of our Confederations, we have a collective duty and responsibility to ensure that we bring these reforms to life as quickly as possible so that we can protect the image of FIFA and restore faith in the guardians of world football.

“I am confident that by working closely and consulting together, we will do the best for FIFA and restore much needed unity.  I have already assured the FIFA President that I will support him in achieving that goal and I am confident you will join me in this task.”

Shaikh Salman also wrote to the Member Associations in both Africa and Asia thanking them for their support. He added that the recent Memorandum of Understanding between the AFC and CAF will allow the members of both Confederations to ‘share ideas and best practice’ for the good of the game.

He said of Asia: “In Doha in late January we launched the AFC Vision and Mission as well as values and our stated ambition is to make sure that we are the world’s leading football Confederation. By working closely together I am sure we can achieve that objective.’

Source: the-afc.com

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