Worawi out of Fifa panel after 17 years
Football Association of Thailand president Worawi Makudi failed in his bid to retain his seat on Fifa's decision-making executive committee, which he had held for 17 years, following his defeat in the election at the Asian Football Confederation's 26th An
The AFC’s four spots on Fifa’s all-powerful board went to AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, who automatically took one seat after being re-elected as the head of Asian football, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait, Japan’s Kohzo Tashima and Malaysian Prince Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
In the vote for three vacant spots on Fifa’s 25-strong committee, Sheikh Ahmad claimed the only seat with two-year mandate by acclamation after five other candidates opted not to run for it. That left incumbent Worawi, who sat at the top table of world football since 1997, vying for one of two spots with a four-year mandate with the other three challengers after Oman’s Khalid al-Busaidi pulled out of the race.
The 63-year-old Thai, whose time in Fifa’s executive committee had been marked by a string of allegations against him, received only 13 votes compared to Japanese FA vice president Tashima’s 36 and Prince Abdullah’s 25. The result put an end to Worawi’s long-time reign in world football’s governing body.
