Ali Kaffashian Naeini, the President of FFIRI has been elected as AFC Vice President at the 26th AFC Congress 2015 held in Bahrain today.
The current head of AFC President Salman bin Ebrahim AlKhalifa of Bahrain has also been re-elected for a another 4 years term in the office. Mr. Kaffashian, who stood as a candidate for the Central Asian region of the AFC , would also entitles him to be a member of the AFC Executive committee .
Kaffashian talks to TeamMelli.com
In an interview with TeamMelli.com, Mr. Kaffashian expressed his delight at being elected as the executive member of the AFC ExCo and hoped that this would lead to a stronger representation of Iran in the AFC. When asked about the newly formed Central Asian Region and its benefit to Iran football as opposed to WAFF, Mr. Kaffashian admitted that the facilities in this region is lower than West Asia and there is a long way for it to reach the levels that can be considered close to the top of Asian Football. However , Mr. Kaffashian admitted that such regional representation is the ideal platform for the AFC executive offices.
Fate of Uzbekistan Friendly match
On the friendly match against Uzbekistan, which has been on and off , the President of FFIRI, said “the match is not cancelled however we are looking at better arrangements to suit both teams. We hope that it is finalized before we start our FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.”
FIFA elections
On the subject of FIFA election , Mr. Kaffashian was asked why AFC did not allow the other candidates of FIFA Presidency candidate to take the floor and only Sepp Blatter was given the opportunity to speak at the AFC Congress 2015 , Mr. Kaffashian said “the decision to support Joseph Sepp Blatter has been taken sometime ago amongst the AFC member states, for this reason it would not have been appropriate to allow the others to be given the floor in this congress.” The Portuguese Luis Figo and Prince Ali Bin Hussain , two of the candidates were present in the AFC congress in Bahrain.
Asked whether Blatter re-election will reap any particular benefits for Iran football , Mr. Kaffashian did not have anything in particular to mention. “Did he help FFIRI to recover the blocked money of Iran share of the World Cup 2014?” I asked, “No, i think that would be beyond him. It is these banking restrictions that does not allow the free flow of funds Into Iran”
Mr. Kaffashian added that the money will shortly be transferred to the Iranian Embassy in Switzerland and from there , it will be transferred to Iran.
The jam-packed congress hall packed with delegates from the 43 members states and a large contingent of journalist from the region.