26 May

Burnley returned to the top flight of English football with a 1-0 defeat of Sheffield United in the promotion playoff final at Wembley yesterday. Wade Elliott curled in the winning goal after 13 minutes and the Lancashire club, who were relegated from the old first division in 1976, were the better side throughout. “I think we were worthy winners but my heart goes out to Sheffield United,” Burnley manager Owen Coyle told Sky Sports after their 61st match of a season, which included a run to the League Cup semi-final and the last 16 of the FA Cup. “I’m delighted with what we...

02:28 / International / Sports
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22 May

Hundreds of Arsenal fans are expected to take part in a march this weekend in a bid to persuade manager Arsene Wenger not to leave the club after reports linked him to Real Madrid. The march is being organised by REDaction, a supporters group which has called on fans to meet near the Emirates on Sunday, shortly before the last match of the Premier League season against Stoke. The group called the event a “march of solidarity”. “The consensus among fans is not only that he should stay but also that he’s one of the few managers in the league that’s earned...

03:53 / International / Sports
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09 May

FIFA President Joseph S Blatter believes that the Asian Football Federation (AFC) should amend its statutes to ensure the AFC President is automatically made FIFA Vice President. “What we have to do is to make sure that all presidents of confederations are members of the FIFA Executive Committee in the position of vice president,” Blatter told journalists after the 23rd AFC Congress. Currently, AFC's representative as FIFA Vice President is Korea Republic's Chung Mong-joon. Also sitting on the FIFA executive from Asia is AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was re-elected to his seat on Friday, Thailand's Worawi Makudi and Japan's Junji Ogura. AFC...

12:12 / International / Sports
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09 May

By the very closest of margins, after one of the most bitter Asian football elections, Mohamed bin Hammam won by a 23-21 voting to be the FIFA Executive Committee member (West Asia). The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president beat Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa in a poll of the 46-member confederation at the AFC Congress at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur. There were two spoilt votes. “It’s a very close call in a very democratic election,” said Sheikh Salman, the Bahrain Football Association president, who campaigned on the refreshing platform of “Asia for Change”. “I accept the decision. I believe it is...

12:07 / International / Sports
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08 May

Asia's football chiefs today called off a vote on whether to shift the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) headquarters away from Kuala Lumpur. The 46 members of the AFC had been due to vote later today on whether or not to accept bids from other nations to host the regional body. At the beginning of the annual congress, however, AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam asked members to scratch that issue from the day's agenda. "Yesterday I met with the Prime Minister of Malaysia (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) who has shown great sympathy and concern over keeping our headquarters in Malaysia," the Qatari told the...

12:05 / International / Sports
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07 May

Kuwait FA has been barred from voting by the AFC Executive Committee which met this morning. The AFC Congress is schedule for tomorrow (May 8th, 2009) to elect Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa or Mohamed bin Hammam for the FIFA vice president’s seat (West Asia). It is learnt that FIFA will intervene in the matter and an make an official announcement....

12:04 / International / Sports
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06 May

The unintentional “desert” remark of Dato’ Peter Velappan on Tuesday became a tongue-in-cheek talking point at Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah’s press conference today. Velappan, the former general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), had unreservedly apologised after making the remark in relation to AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam. But Sheikh Ahmad, the Kuwait Football Association president, said he was personally “proud to be a desert man” in casting his vote at Friday’s AFC Congress election in a “contest of two desert people” for the post of FIFA Executive Member (West Asia). “I’m proud to be a desert man and I’ll be voting...

12:02 / International / Sports
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06 May

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has called for an united show of Asian solidarity as a partition of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) seems imminent in the run-up to Friday’s AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur. “The division of the Asian football family saddens me very much. The situation is very serious and there will be global sporting repercussions to the present disunited stand in Asia,” said the president of the Kuwait Football Association. Up for grabs on Friday: The post of FIFA Executive Committee (West Asia) with two Arab candidates, Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar and Bahraini Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, once...

10:19 / International / Sports
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06 May

The continued in-fighting within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) could result in the suspension of the world’s second largest confederation. Dato’ Peter Velappan warned that FIFA, the world football controlling body, may even withhold recognition of a split AFC. Painting out the worst-case scenario ahead of Friday’s AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Velappan, the longest-serving AFC former general secretary (1978-2007), said the consequences of the prolonged disunity among the 46 member associations can have unprecedented repercussions. “If Friday’s AFC Congress gets out of hand, there could be a split right down the middle especially if the AFC president (Mohamed bin Hammam) puts his...

10:16 / International / Sports
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03 May

Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa made his election-platform clear today: “I don’t want to be the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) president.” He is focused on Friday’s AFC Congress meeting to win the post of FIFA Executive Committee Member (West Asia). Sheikh Salman, the president of the Bahrain FA and a member of the Bahraini royal family, takes on the incumbent, Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, who is also the AFC president. “I want to bring about a bigger voice for Asia on the global platform and at the same time, I want change for Asian football,” he said in his first press conference...

10:12 / International
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