The Sun-Herald

An Asian Political Football

Australia is about to find itself embroiled in a nasty little war.

This Friday, members of the Asian Football Confederation meet in Kuala Lumpur to shake hands with FIFA President Sepp Blatter and hear from South African World Cup official Danny Jordaan about progress for next year's finals.

The real action, however, will be the last-minute maneuvering as Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Football Association, attempts to oust AFC President Mohamed Bin Hamman from his seat on FIFA's all-powerful Executive Committee.

Who cares, you may ask? Well, a lot of people.

The implications and consequences may significantly affect Australia's role in the region, if only for the political powerplay that is unrolling.

Football Federation Australia has thrown its support behind Bin Hamman with CEO Ben Buckley telling me: "Asian football has come a long way in the last decade. We have seen substantial improvements for the Asian Champions League and substantial improvements for the Asian Cup. They have become professional tournaments."

"We have seen the growth of football through the projects like Vision Asia," he added. "There have been very strong grounds made in the last decade and in the last few years. We do not see a need to change the leadership that has brought about those changes."

That's all very well but Australia, of course, could support no one other than Bin Hamman considering the Qatari's strong relationship with FFA Chairman Frank Lowy.

The unique personal bond between Hamman and Lowy was key to Australia gaining membership to the AFC in 2005.

But Hamman faces a very real chance of losing his FIFA position to Sheik Salman. If that happens, he has said he will quit the AFC presidency allowing the opportunity for Salman to step up.

The Sheik's team has been quietly lobbying FFA for its vote. Buckley will not publicly engage on that topic nor discuss what happens if the result goes against Bin Hamman.

"A change is speculation and all theoretical," he said. "Our desire is that stability is achieved quickly."

But telephones and email inboxes have been buzzing and beeping over the past week.

I won't bore you with the chatter - most of it is "he said-she-said", mixed with legalese and about who is eligible to vote or not - but Sheik Salman apparently has heavy hitters on his side, including Japan and South Korea.

What happens if Sheik Salman wins and Australia's support of Bin Hamman ruptures that fledgling relationship? Will Australia be turfed out of Asia no sooner than it has become a member?

Not according to the contender.

"I think this is just another rumour that has been spread by the other party," Sheik Salman told ESPN Soccernet. "Who brought Australia to Asia? It was the Asian nations. It wasn't Bin Hamman. No one can take that away. Australia is part of Asia now."

This time next week, there will be losers. Australia must not be one of them.

Follow me on Titter here.