KUALA LUMPUR // A former top official of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) criticised Mohamed bin Hammam yesterday for challenging Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency, saying the organisation would be "doomed" if the Qatari wins.
Peter Velappan, a Blatter ally who was the AFC's general secretary from 1978 to 2007, said bin Hammam's pledge to bring "new blood" into the leadership of world football was "the joke of the century."
The Malaysian's comments underscore bitter divisions that could increasingly become public following last week's announcement by bin Hammam, the AFC president, that he would run to replace the 75-year-old Blatter.
"Fifa will be doomed if Hammam became the president," Velappan said. "It would be very detrimental."
Bin Hammam announced his candidacy on Friday, mounting the first serious challenge to the Fifa president in nearly a decade. Bin Hammam was travelling in France yesterday and could not immediately be reached for comment, according to a representative of AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Velappan claimed that bin Hammam had led the AFC like "an autocrat" since becoming president of the organisation in 2002 and was insincere in his pledge to bring more democracy, transparency and integrity to Fifa.
"These are the very things he has not done in AFC," he said. "There is no democracy in AFC."
He added he believed bin Hammam would try to "buy up" support to win the June 1 vote in Zurich. "He is definitely an underdog but you can't rule out his influence," Velappan said.
Bin Hammam recently spearheaded Qatar's winning bid for the 2022 World Cup. The 61-year-old still needs the formality of being nominated by one of Fifa's 208 national federations to run for presidency.
"Blatter needs this [fourth term as president] to fight corruption in football, including Fifa," and to tackle the problem of illegal betting, Velappan said. "This is not the time to challenge."
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
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Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Without Remorse
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B Jordan
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Two-legged ties to be played November 9-11 and November 12-14
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