Kuala Lumpur, February 18 The Asian confederation on Thursday reiterated its backing for Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain to succeed disgraced Sepp Blatter as president of world football body FIFA. Sheikh Salman, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, is one of five candidates in the February 26 election. Richard Lai, AFC’s marketing committee chairman from Guam urged member associations to vote for its president. “Our vision is One Asia, One Goal. Our goal is a united Asia and to demonstrate that we must unite behind our president in the FIFA election,” Lai said. “At present Asia has two candidates for the FIFA Presidency. We must unite behind the one who will deliver these reforms and that is the AFC president,” he added. The other Asian contender is Prince Ali bin al Hussein, the 39-year-old brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah. The AFC executive committee had already said it would endorse Sheikh Salman at its previous meetings in New Delhi and in Doha. “Thanks to that encouragement I have been able to enter this election with the overwhelming support of my Confederation, and that is clearly a massive help in my campaign,” the AFC boss had said previously. Sheikh Salman took over the AFC in turmoil in 2013 after Mohamed bin Hammam was kicked out amid graft allegations. Last year Sheikh Salman was re-elected unopposed for a full, four-year term and became a FIFA vice president into the bargain. But he has been dogged by allegations that he was complicit in Bahrain’s harsh crackdown on pro-democracy activists in 2011, charges he denies. Besides Asian contenders — remaining candidates are Gianni Infantino from Switzerland, Tokyo Sexwale from South African and Frenchman Jerome Champagne. Germans won’t vote for him BERLIN: Acting DFB president Reinhard Rauball has said the German FA will not vote for Sheikh Salman in next week’s FIFA presidency elections because of his suspected human rights abuses. The DFB has already said they will be voting for UEFA candidate Gianni Infantino in the elections to replace disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Zurich on February 26. But in an interview with Thursday’s edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Rauball explained why Bahraini candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa is not an option for the Germans. “In terms of football, he makes a good impression. But given the human rights issues and the persistent doubts, which have not been cleared up, we will not vote for him,” Rauball told the FAZ. Greg Dyke, chairman of the English Football Association, has cast similar doubts over Sheikh Salman’s bid to succeed Blatter. Despite being the bookmakers’ favourite to replaced Blatter, Sheikh Salman is suspected of human rights violations which followed the pro-democracy demonstrations in Bahrain in 2011.