Sports, politics and human rights can make for a volatile mix the FFA has discovered this week.

FFA Chairman Chris Nikou and his board have had to weather a storm of criticism in the wake of the FFA’s decision to support the candidacy of incumbent Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheik Salman, at the upcoming AFC elections on 6 April.

The Sheik, you’ll recall, is a member of the Bahrain ruling family, the country which recently tried to extradite Australia-based footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi when he was detained in Thailand. Hakeem, a former Bahraini international player, fled that country as a political refugee.

Many, including the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and human rights advocate Craig Foster, accused the Sheik of inaction in the face of the worldwide bid to release Hakeem, which ultimately succeeded.

In a statement released on Tuesday morning, PFA boss John Didulica said “The PFA is on record challenging the right of the incumbent to continue in the role of AFC president, let alone serve another term”.

“The inability of the incumbent to protect and promote the human rights of one of the game’s players in line with his constitutional obligations demonstrates a breathtaking failure as the continent’s highest office holder and a repudiation and abrogation of the office of president,” he added.

“FFA’s support – without consulting with key members of the FFA Congress – is difficult to understand given the unity of purpose the Australian football family recently displayed to help secure the freedom of Hakeem Al-Araibi.”

Foster has described the FFA’s decision as “sickening”.

“That Australia could even contemplate voting for such a candidate makes a mockery of any discussion of fundamental values within the game. The conduct of Salman during the incarceration of Hakeem was unconscionable,” said Foster in a statement.

Hakeem himself has shared the sentiment, revealing that he was shocked and disappointed at the FFA’s decision to back the Sheik’s re-election as AFC president.

“The head of the FFA, Chris Nikou must address these concerns and ask serious questions about how they do not breach FFA’s own human rights policy,” Hakeem said.

The FFA announced its decision to back the Sheik after Nikou returned from a weekend meeting in Cambodia with all member nations of the Association of South East Nations Football Federation (ASEAN).

In Tuesday’s FFA statement, Mr Nikou said FFA is acutely aware that the recent events involving Hakeem caused some concern regarding the role of the AFC.

“During this time we were in regular dialogue with the AFC, FIFA and the Australian Government to ensure appropriate steps were taken to support efforts for Hakeem’s release and we did this privately by lobbying those in positions of influence and ultimately, through the work of many, the right outcome was achieved,” he said.

“It was the consensus view of all of ASEAN that Shaikh Salman is the best-credentialed candidate to continue to lead the development of football both in ASEAN and in Asia more broadly.”

The AFC presidential election comes at a delicate time in Australia’s bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Mindful of the failed, controversial bid to host the 2022 Men’s World Cup, Nikou has made it plain that Australia needs the total backing of the AFC if it is to have any hope of achieving this.

“My reaction is always one of practicality,” he admitted.

“If I get the feeling the reality is, pardon the expression, that we are pushing shit uphill, then I’ll say, ‘Sorry guys, let’s position ourselves for subsequent bids’.
“I’m not going to waste time and money and burn capital we don’t have. Everyone tells me it would be great to have the World Cup in Australia but we have got to be realistic.”

Nikou has described Australia’s position within Asia as “fragile”.

“We have good friends and support to the east, but we’re not that well liked to the west,” he said.

“We need to position ourselves as the number one bid coming out of the AFC, that’s important.
“We’ve started to lay some groundwork internationally, it’s not just a question of we are here, we want to be this – it just doesn’t happen that way. So we’ve been out to member feds, that care to listen to us, European ones, in particular, highlighting some basic elements of Australia.
“We want to emphasise what is strong about our bid…but it’s a two-step [process], it’s AFC then FIFA.”