Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sao Paulo: Joko Driyono, the General Secretary of the Football Association of Indonesia, captured the spirit of unity evident at Monday's AFC Extraordinary Congress as representatives of the 46 Member Associations gave their overwhelming support to a number of amendments to the AFC Statutes aimed at continuing the process of reforming and re-energising Asian football.
"The AFC sent a strong message of unity in the football family, which is a good signal and we have seen it take effect for the future of football in Asia," Driyono said after Congress approved the proposal that the AFC President will automatically assume the role of FIFA Vice President.
"The statutes amendment that the FIFA Vice President will be the AFC President is a perfect proposal because our AFC President is the head of Asia," concurred Football Federation of Sri Lanka President Ranjit Rodrigo, who also approved of the decision to divide the 'South & Central' zone into two distinct entities suggesting that it will better help the development of the game in these regions.
The congress was, in the words of AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, "conducted positively, with great dignity and mutual respect", which was a point that Hong Kong Football Association CEO Mark Sutcliffe noted in his assessment of Monday's meeting.
"The Congress was short and sweet, very positive," he said.
"The word kept being used was unity. It was apparent there was a lot of common ground to improve football in Asia."