KUALA LUMPUR, May 2: In a stunning double election defeat for Qatari interests, Bahrain royal family member Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa became the top figure in Asian football on Thursday.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) handed the reins of power to Sheikh Salman, ignoring concerns about alleged human rights breaches and electing the Bahraini as its new president after a landslide election win and member of FIFA’s all-powerful executive committee.

The royal, who has also denied vote-buying claims, secured 33 of the 46 presidential votes available from AFC member associations in Malaysia, to beat Yousuf Al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates (six votes) and Thailand’s Worawi Makudi (seven votes) in a lop-sided election, replacing disgraced ex-leader Mohamed bin Hammam.

The result drew huge cheers from the auditorium with compatriot Sheikh Ali Bin Khalifa then announcing his resignation from the AFC executive committee so that Sheikh Salman could assume the presidency. Member Associations are only allowed one seat in the AFC exco.

Sheikh Salman, who will now complete Bin Hammam’s term which finishes in 2015, then beat Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising chief Hassan Al Thawadi by 28 votes against 18 to claim a vacant seat on FIFA’s executive committee.

In both polls to formally replace his old rival Bin Hammam, Sheikh Salman defeated friends and former associates of the ousted Qatari official. Bin Hammam was banned for life by FIFA in 2011 amid allegations of trying to buy votes during the lobbying process to run the world governing body.

The AFC had been in limbo ever since, with China’s Zhang Jilong’s interim leadership beset by numerous match-fixing and graft scandals among member associations.—Agencies