Mohammed Khalfan Al Romaithi of the United Arab Emirates and Saoud Al Mohannadi of Qatar withdrew their applications for the post of President of the Asian Football Confederation last month, leaving Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain unopposed. “The other candidates realised that they did not stand a chance against Salman. There was no real reason for ambitious Gulf powers like Saudi Arabia to oppose Salman,” said James Dorsey, a senior fellow at RSIS.