AFC calls for urgent FIFA meeting

The president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Shaikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa on Friday requested Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, the acting chief of FIFA after the suspension of Joseph Blatter, to hold an emergency executive committee meeting of world football's global body.

"These are exceptional circumstances and that is why we need the meeting. Only together will we overcome these difficult times," the AFC president wrote in his letter, reports Efe.

These statements came after the decision of the FIFA's Ethics Committee on Thursday to provisionally suspend Blatter and and UEFA President, Michel Platini, also a FIFA vice-president, for 90 days.

European football's governing body UEFA showed on Thursday its support for Platini and announced a meeting of all of the 54 member federations on October 15 at its headquarters in the Swiss city of Nyon.

This suspension prevents Blatter and Platini from participating in any football-related activity.

Both have appealed the sanctions and Platini has submitted documentation to run as candidate for the FIFA presidency in the upcoming election, planned to be held next year on February 26.

The Election Committee will have to validate Platini's request, while the final deadline for applicants to submit their candidacy documents ends on Monday, October 26.