KUALA LUMPUR - One of the most vitriolic battles in Asian football comes to a head this week with the fate of Asian Football Confederation president Moha-med bin Hammam hanging in the balance.

KUALA LUMPUR - One of the most vitriolic battles in Asian football comes to a head this week with the fate of Asian Football Confederation president Moha-med bin Hammam hanging in the balance.

The Qatari, often tipped as a successor to Fifa president Sepp Blatter, has said he will step down from the AFC's top job if he is ousted from his Fifa executive committee seat at the AFC Congress in Malaysia on Friday.

He has held the Fifa position since 1996 and has long been a close confidant of Blatter, whom he helped get elected to the most powerful job in world football in 1998.

But his term is up and he is being challenged by Bahrain Football Association president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, a former friend who is running to unseat him under the motto "Asia for Change". - Sapa-AFP