Speaking to www.the-afc.com, the AFC chief, who is incidentally celebrating his 59th birthday today, called for total depoliticisation of the game to further its progress in the continent.

"Political and vested interests must be completely eliminated from the statutes of all AFC Member Associations," said Bin Hammam.

"All AFC Member Associations should adopt FIFA’s Standard Statutes and put in place an independent, transparent and democratic system to introduce transparency."

Bin Hammam also outlined the challenges facing Asian football in the near future.

"AFC’s Member Associations need to embrace professionalism and introduce a commercial approach to their senior competitions to help raise the standard of the game," said Bin Hammam.

"Corruption and match-fixing in the Asian game remain prime concerns and AFC will do everything in its power to root out this scourge. The game’s integrity is of utmost priority for AFC and we will prevail in this fight against corruption."

The AFC chief noted that Vision Asia, AFC’s football development programme, had met with great success in several countries, including China, India, Vietnam and Iran, and promised to introduce it in more Member Associations.

"Vision Asia lays down the road-map for across-the-board football development and the benefits of the programme are already there to see in several cities in Asia which now have their own full-fledged city leagues."

"There is no short-cut to success and Vision Asia underscores this point with its strategic, pyramidal structure of football development," concluded Bin Hammam.