Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa ( ar, سلمان بن ابراهيم آل خليفة; born 2 November 1965) is a member of the House of Khalifa, the royal family of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. He has been president of the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC) since 2 May 2013. Before becoming president of AFC, he was president of

Bahrain Football Association The Bahrain Football Association ( ar, الاتحاد البحريني لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Bahrain, and controls the Bahrain national football team. It was founded in 1957, and has been a member of FIFA since ...

(BFA) (2002–13) and also Chairman of the

Disciplinary Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. He is a member of the FIFA Council and chairman of the FIFA Development Committee.

Biography

Salman is the second son of Ibrahim bin Hamad al-Khalifa and Aisha bint Salman al-Khalifa, daughter of Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa I, the ruler of Bahrain from 1942 until his death in 1961. He graduated from the

University of Bahrain The University of Bahrain ( ar, جامعة البحرين , informally Bahrain University, abbreviated as UOB) is the largest public university in the Kingdom of Bahrain with campuses in Sakhir, Isa Town and Manama, the university has more than ...

in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and History. Salman has been involved in football for many years, dating back to the early 1980s when he played a few years in the youth team of Bahrain Division I team, Riffa Club. Since leaving Riffa Club to focus on his academic studies, Salman has held executive positions at the BFA. In 1996, he became chairman of the national team. In 1998, he was elected vice-president of the BFA, and president in 2002. His tenures also include co-chairman of the disciplinary Committee of the FIFA World Cups, the FIFA Beach Tournaments, the FIFA Club Championships, etc. He was also deputy chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee at

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in 2008. Salman was president of the

at time of the "golden era" of Bahraini football. The national team was a match away from qualifying to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

and

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. The team also managed to reach the

2004 Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champio ...

semi final, the furthest the national team has ever reached in the continental championship. The national team FIFA ranking also reached its highest in the history of Bahraini Football, as it moved up to the 44th position. In May 2013, Salman was elected president of the

. On 15 October 2015, he announced his candidature for president of FIFA after the election of February 2016. He was defeated by UEFA general secretary

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. He ...

. On April 6, 2019, Salman was elected unopposed for a second full term as AFC President for the term 2019–2023.

Personal life

Salman has three children, two daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalifa, Salman Bin Ibrahim 1965 births Living people Salman Bin Ibrahim Bahraini footballers Bahraini football chairmen and investors University of Bahrain alumni Association football executives Presidents of the Asian Football Confederation Association footballers not categorized by position