AFC Turmoil

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Re: AFC Turmoil

Postby blahblah Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:32 am

...........and the bullshit continues. Last night UAE and Qatar faced off in the u19 Championship group stage where the UAE Captain refused to shake the hand of the Qatar Captain or have a photo with him at the start of the match (both being mandatory AFC requirements). UAE managed a 2-1 win along with a red card which, whilst giving them the points doesn't leave them in a dominant position. The Qatari's will no doubt be looking forward to the return leg.
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Re: AFC Turmoil

Postby blahblah Wed Oct 31, 2018 2:16 pm

Ok, everyone thoroughly confused now? Fantastic, because things just became more complicated.

Ezzat, having formed the South West Asian Football Federation and preparing for his bid for the AFC Presidency, was anticipating that his newly formed region would be formerly recognised in today's AFC Congress. However after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, all seven SAFF members (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh) pulled out of SWAFF, leaving it as a small West Asian grouping limited to those countries aligned to Saudi Arabia.

It would appear that Al-Khalifa, who has stated his desire to stay on as President to avoid "chaos", has pulled the rug from under his erstwhile opponent.
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blahblah
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Re: AFC Turmoil

Postby blahblah Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:33 am

The AFC Congress went ahead and Ezzat has been schooled. Two major points from the Congress were:

(i) Official recognition of the regional groupings: this means that the West, South, Central, South East and East Asian Football Federations are formally recongised by the AFC (they have not been to date) and hence will receive funding. The South West Asian Football Federation set up by the Saudis is not recognised and now essentially a non-body leaving its President, Adel Ezzat, without a meaningful portfolio in Asian Football since he resigned as head of the Saudi FA.

(ii) Change of the constitution to allow a Presidential Candidate to be nominated from any 3 member associations: this is an important change, as perviously a candidate had to be nominated by 3 member associations including their own. Given Al Khalifa is Bahraini and Bahrain as an active member of the Saudi-led anti-Qatar bloc, there was a risk that Saudi Arabia would put pressure on the Bahraini FA to ensure Al Khalifa did not receive their nomination. That threat has now been removed.

In all, Al Khalifa has removed a number of risks to the AFC becoming a Saudi geo-political tool. What the next move from the Saudis is remains to be seen, however I dare say they are not ready to throw in the towel given the importance they have placed on the role of sport administration in furthering their broader regional ambitions.
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blahblah
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Re: AFC Turmoil

Postby blahblah Wed Feb 06, 2019 6:44 am

Just a heads up for any AUFC fans going to visit, or even transit through, UAE.........don't wear a Qatar football shirt.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47135629
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Re: AFC Turmoil

Postby blahblah Fri May 10, 2019 5:41 am

It looks as if the AFC are unable to stop the piracy of sports programming in Saudi Arabia from BeoutQ due to a lack of Saudi action, so are re-tendering the broadcast deal for Saudi Arabia alone which will effectively cut Qatar based BeIN Sports out of that market. There has been an outcry from other sports as well, however with US seeing Saudi as a valuable ally in the region there hasn't been any concerted move to sanction the Saudi's for all of the piracy.

Middle East geopolitics trumps the rule of law yet again.

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2019 ... ower-play/

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