Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein stunned powerful South Korean Chung Mong-Joon by unseating him as a FIFA vice-president on Thursday while Mohamad bin Hammam won another term as AFC chief. Chung, the controlling shareholder in industrial giant Hyundai Heavy Industries, a major FIFA sponsor, had been in the job since 1994 and was widely expected to retain the role.
But in a vote of the Asian Football Confederation's 45 eligible members at their Congress in Doha, the prince won 25-20.
It was a big upset with rumours flying that Chung, 59, was to launch a campaign to unseat Sepp Blatter as FIFA president later in the year, someone he has previously feuded with. Chung supported an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Blatter 10 years ago amid allegations of financial impropriety from the collapse of a marketing company that worked for FIFA.
He reopened the wounds just months ago when he insisted change at the top was in the interests of football's world governing body. Now that he is no longer among the FIFA hierachy, he cannot run for the presidency and he left the Congress early without making any comment.