UAE back Bin Hammam

ABU DHABI // The UAE Football Association are backing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed Bin Hammam to remain in Fifa's Executive Committee after Bahrain's football chief Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa launched a campaign to unseat him from that post. Mohammed Khalfan al Rumaithi, the president of the UAE FA, said: "We recognise his contributions in the development of the sport and we see him as the right man to carry on with the job. It is not only us, there are several other associations backing him. "There is no harm in backing the man you want in an election. I don't think there will have any negative consequences whoever succeeds. It is quite unfortunate there are two nominations from the same region but let democracy takes it course." It is the first time that the Qatari Bin Hammam has faced a challenge since his election to the Fifa seat in 1996. The AFC congress will vote on the four Asian places for the Fifa seat on May 8 and Bin Hammam and Al Khalifa will contest the West Asian candidacy. Bin Hammam was confident of retaining his seat and stated the UAE FA's backing came at the most critical time. "There are several associations that have stepped forward in support and I am quite confident the majority will be on my side." apassela@thenational.ae