From correspondents in Federal Territory, Malaysia, 01:00 AM IST

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed Bin Hammam has retained his FIFA executive committee seat for another four years, defeating Shaikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain 23-21 in a bitter and vitriolic election at the AFC Congress here Friday.

Qatari Hammam's win came on his 60th birthday and has held the seat since 1996.

All 46 members of the AFC participated in the election but only 44 votes were counted while two declared void.

Hammam, in his victory speech, admitted he was lucky to win since it was a very close election.

Before the start of the congress, Hammam took everyone by surprise when he proposed to remove agenda No. 13 that outlined the relocation of the AFC headquarters from Malaysia to another country.

Hammam said the agenda item was removed after his meeting Thursday with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

'The prime minister has agreed to look at certain issues regarding the AFC House. I, therefore, proposed to remove agenda Number 13 from today's meeting,' he explained.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)