Asian football candidate files complaint about Kuwaiti sheikh

FILE – In this file photo dated Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) delivers a speech during the ANOC general assembly in Tokyo. In a letter seen by The Associated Press Thursday April 18, 2019, Mariyam Mohamed of Maldives, who lost an election to join FIFA’s ruling council earlier this month, has filed a formal complaint alleging “threats and manipulation” by Olympic power broker Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, FILE)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A candidate who lost an election to join the FIFA Council this month has filed a formal complaint accusing Olympic powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of “threats and manipulation.”

Mariyam Mohamed of Maldives says in a letter to the Asian Football Confederation’s election oversight committee that “women’s football should work and run independently of the apparent politics and vote rigging that clearly occurred.”

In the letter, seen by The Associated Press, Mohamed requests an investigation into the Kuwaiti sheikh’s supposed influence on the April 6 vote in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohamed says the sheikh told her she had no future in soccer if she stayed in the election against Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh. Mohamed lost 31-15.

Two years ago, Sheikh Ahmad resigned his FIFA Council seat after being implicated in a U.S. federal court of bribing Asian soccer officials to influence elections. He denied wrongdoing.