Standing united: Hong Kong chief quashes talk of Fifa ‘rebellion’ after key AFC vote abandoned
Delegates in Goa vote 42-1 against the agenda for the meeting after Qatar Football Association vice president Saoud Al Mohannadi is barred from contesting for a seat on the world governing body’s new council
The decision to call off Tuesday’s Asian Football Confederation’s extraordinary congress in India after just 27 minutes ahead of a key Fifa Council vote was not a “rebellion” against the world governing body but a matter of process, according to Hong Kong Football Association chief executive Mark Sutcliffe.
Delegates in Goa voted 42-1 against the agenda for the meeting – only Singapore voted in favour out of the 44 members eligible – after Qatar Football Association vice president Saoud Al Mohannadi was barred from the vote to elect three new members to the world body’s new powerful 36-member council just 24 hours beforehand.
Al Mohannadi had initially been cleared to stand alongside Zhang Jian of China, Iran’s Ali Kafashian Naeni and Zainudin Nordin of Singapore for two of the seats.
But Fifa’s ethics committee last month recommended a two-and-a-half-year ban for the senior Qatari official for refusing to cooperate with a corruption investigation and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced late on Sunday that he had been ruled out.
Watch: members vote during the AFC extraordinary congress
“This is not about a particular individual, but more about following correct electoral process,” said Sutcliffe from Goa, having attended the congress with Hong Kong Football Association president Timothy Fok Tsun-ting and general secretary Vincent Yuen Mun-chuen.