Araneta elected to FIFA Council

MANILA, -- Philippine Football Federation president Mariano Araneta Jr. was among four officials elected to the International Football Federation (FIFA) Council during the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress in Manama, Bahrain on Monday.

Also elected were Mahfuza Kiron of Bangladesh, Zhang Jian of China, and Chung Mong Gyu of the Republic of Korea.

“I’d like to thank everyone for having supported us and we promise not to let them down. We will do our best when representing Asia at the FIFA Council,” Araneta (second from left in photo) was quoted as saying in a report on AFC's official website.

According to the report, the addition of three more AFC officials to the FIFA Council is part of the reforms being implemented by the world governing body in football.

FIFA also wants to increase the role of women in football governance by having one female representative from each confederation.

The FIFA Council members will serve until 2019.

“I’m grateful to have been elected. It is an honor. I will always look to further develop women’s football in Asia and I am fully committed to that," said Mahfuza Kiron.

“Thank you so much and thanks for your support. I will be the voice of the AFC whilst at FIFA. We have our Vision and Mission, so I will try my best to work with the AFC member associations and raise the level of football throughout Asia,” said Zhang Jian.

“I feel very privileged and humbled to be elected to the FIFA Council. I think I’ve been working to be elected throughout the last two years and now that I have been elected, I feel a lot of responsibilities to represent Asia and FIFA well, so I will do my best,” said Chung Mong Gyu, who also won by acclamation as AFC vice president for the East.

AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa congratulated the four officials, saying he looks forward to working with them "to elevate Asian football on the world stage".

“This result is a testament to their dedication and passion towards the development of football in Asia. I am confident that Asia will provide four extremely capable and trustworthy members to represent the interests of our great game in the years to come," he added.

“Today represents yet another step in the reform process – one that reinforces the unity, solidarity and commitment of Asian football."

Also elected during the AFC Congress were UAE's Mohammad Ali Al Kamali (Independent Head of Inquiry) and Bahrain's Yousif Mohd Yaqoobi (AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee member) while elected to the Entry Control Body were China's Liu Chi as chairman and Australia's Rauf Soulio, India's Nandan Kamath, Iran's Ahmadreza Barati and Saudi Arabia's Bandar Al Hamidani. PNA