Bin Hammam urged to reconsider quit threat

Regional soccer chief Mohamed bin Hammam was urged to reconsider his threat to quit as Asian Football Confederation president if he loses his seat on FIFA’s executive committee.

The Qatari, who has been AFC chief since 2002, has said he will resign on Friday if he does not retain his FIFA position, claiming there was no point continuing if he did not have the support despite his term running until 2011.

But Fernando Manilal, who sits on the AFC’s executive committee, is leading a push for Bin Hammam to stay in the job regardless.

“When the contest started, Bin Hammam said that he will resign if he loses, but since then he has travelled all around Asia and many countries have pledged their support to him as AFC president,” the Filipino told AFP.

“I told him it is unfair for him to decide what he will do. Rather, he owes it to the people who supported him to serve the AFC until 2011.

“We will be pushing hard to tell him to remain in power until 2011.”

Bin Hammam, who is credited with launching the AFC Champions League, bringing Australia into Asia and promoting grassroots football, is being challenged for his FIFA seat by Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa.

The campaign has been one of the most divisive Asian football has known and remains too close to call.

While Sheikh Salman and his team have launched a media blitz ahead of Friday’s vote at the AFC Congress, Bin Hammam has remained silent over the past few weeks.