Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), is arriving in Dushanbe today on an official visit, according to the Tajikistan Football Federation’s website.
AFC president will hold talks with senior representatives of the Tajikistan Football Federation to discuss issues related to development of football in in the region.
Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (born November 2, 1965 in Riffa, Bahrain) is the President of the Asian Football Confederation since 2 May 2013. Before his election as the president of AFC, he was president of Bahrain Football Association and also Chairman of the Asian Football Confederation Disciplinary Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. He is a member of the FIFA Council and chairman of the FIFA Development Committee.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football in Asia and Australia. It has 47 member countries, mostly located on the Asian and Australian continent, but excludes the transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey – which are instead members of UEFA. Three other states located geographically along the western fringe of Asia – Cyprus, Armenia and Israel – are also UEFA members. On the other hand, Australia, formerly in the OFC, joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, and the Oceanian island of Guam, a territory of the United States, is also a member of AFC, in addition to Northern Mariana Islands, one of the Two Commonwealths of the United States. Hong Kong and Macau, although not independent countries (both are Special administrative regions of China), are also members of the AFC.
One of FIFA's six continental confederations, the AFC was formed officially on May 8, 1954 in Manila, Philippines, on the sidelines of the second Asian Games. The main headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
