Yousef Al Serkal, who is the UAE’s football chief warned that he could launch an appeal if his bid for the presidency failed.
Al Serkal has accused the Head of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Kuwait’s Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad, of taking sides. The OCA Chief has announced his support for Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa for the top job at AFC.
According to reports, the OCA Chief accompanied Sheikh Salman during his election campaign and have booked out hotel rooms in Kuala Lumpur. Similar claims were made in the run up to the 2009 AFC presidential vote in which Sheikh Salman lost to Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam.
Among the four candidates, three are from Middle East and only other candidate is Thailand’s Worawi Makudi. The AFC presidency vote is taking place because of the resignation of Bin Hammam, who was accused of bribery during the 2011 FIFA presidential vote as well as financial wrongdoing during his time in office.