Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Yasser Almisehal is poised to be re-elected president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF).

The SAFF Elections Committee announced that there are no other candidates except Almisehal who submitted their nomination as candidate to run for the upcoming elections when the deadline for filing nominations ended on Sunday. This means Almisehal will be re-elected unopposed as the head of the federation.

Lamia bint Bahian will contest in Almisehal’s panel for the position of SAFF vice president as the first Saudi woman to hold the position ever since the founding of the federation. Almisehal’s panel of candidates to the Board of Directors also included Khaled Al-Thubaiti, Naim Al-Bakr, Nazih Al-Nasr, Khaled Al-Muqrin, Ali Al-Shuailan, Moyeed Al-Shehri, Turki Al-Sultan, Abdul Aziz Al-Afaleq and Abdullah Hammad.

Almisehal, who is also a FIFA Council member from Asia, was elected president of SAFF in June 2019. He was credited with scoring several remarkable achievements for Saudi football. During his tenure, the Saudi national football squad qualified for the FIFA Qatar World Cup 2022 after emerging topper in the Asian group, which included Japan, Australia, China, Oman and Vietnam. The Saudi team scored a stunning historic victory over Argentina in its first match in the World Cup.

The national team also qualified to the Tokyo Olympics, in addition to winning the AFC U-23 Cup without losing any matches, and the Saudi youth team won the Arab Championship Cup for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022.

Almisehal’s leadership capabilities could also be seen in the launch of the first ever strategy for Saudi football, as well as the opening of local offices for SAFF, success in the bid to host the 2024 FIFA Club World Cup; 2027 Asian Cup; and the 2026 Asian Women’s Cup. He has played a key role in founding the first Saudi women’s team and the launch of the first ever Saudi women’s professional league.