Blatter winner in Asian election

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jan 6, 2011

[FIFA] Chung Mong-Joon, one of FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s biggest critics, has lost his position as Asia's vice president of FIFA's executive committee, falling to 35-year-old Crown Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, 25-20, in a vote of Asian members at the Asian Football Confederation's congress in Doha on Thursday. In a bizarre twist, Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, re-elected without opposition as AFC president and one of Chung's biggest rivals, claimed he voted for Chung, who had served on the executive committee since 1994.

"We must accept the decision made by the congress, but I supported strongly Dr. Chung's candidacy for vice president." said Bin Hammam afterward. "I supported him because I worked with him for 16 years. I also had my differences with him, but for the last two years we were close to each other and were working for each other.”

In 2009, Chung said bin Hammam suffered from "mental problems" and acted "like a head of a crime organization" when he supported Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa in the race for the seat on the executive committee Bin Hammam has held.

Chung is believed to have supported Qatar over the USA, 14-8, in the final-round vote for the 2022 World Cup in December.

Thailand’s Worawi Makudi, an incumbent and close Bin Hammam ally, and Manilal Fernando of Sri Lanka won elections for the other two Asian seats up for grabs on the executive committee.

Fernando, a director of FIFA's Goal Project, replaced retiring Junji Ogura of Japan.