Kazi MD. Salahuddin Re-elected as SAFF President for 2026
The South Asian Football Federation’s (SAFF) Ordinary Congress 2022 was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dhaka. The Congress reelected Kazi Md. Salahuddin unopposed as the President of the South Asian Football Federation.
The re-election means Mr. Salahuddin shall serve the term till 2026 as President. Likewise, the Congress re-elected Mr. Ugyen Wangchhuk, General Secretary of the Bhutan Football Federation as the SAFF Executive Committee Member till 2026, and Jaswar Umar, President of the Sri Lanka Football Federation as the AFC Executive Committee Member representing SAFF. Mr. Umar shall be SAFF’s representative for the AFC Executive Committee till 2023. Both the candidates ran unopposed for the positions.
The SAFF Electoral Committee informed that there are four vacant positions, namely two Vice Presidents, one male Executive Committee Member and one female Executive Committee Member representative in the Executive Committee, all of who shall be elected in the next Congress to be held in 2023.
Earlier in the SAFF Executive Committee Meeting held before the Congress, they decided to hold the SAFF Women’s Championship 2022 in Nepal from August 29 – September 10, 2022, while the Sri Lanka Football Federation reassured their commitment to hold the SAFF U-17 Championship 5-16 September.
The Committee also decided to review the proposal put forward by marketing company Sports Partner for the sponsorship of the SAFF Men’s Championship.
Likewise, the SAFF Disciplinary and Ethics Code and SAFF Code of Conduct was also approved by the Executive Committee.
Speaking after his re-election as the President, Mr. Salahuddin thanked all the Member Associations for the trust they had in him and urged all to work as a family to work for the betterment of football in the region.
“We are not the best footballing region in the world but we have to work as a family, as brother, to uplift the game in the region,” he added. “When I was elected as the President in 2009, we just had the SAFF Men’s Championship, but now till this day we have conducted 27 competitions. This shows how much progress we have made over the years.”
The breakdown of the competitions that have been arranged from 2009 are as follows:
- 6 SAFF Championships
- 5 SAFF Women’s Championships
- 6 U-15 Men’s Championship
- 3 U-15 Women’s Championship
- 4 U-17/U-18 Men’s Championships
- 3 U-18/19 Women’s Championship
