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Zhang Jilong
Zhang Jilong, 2011
Senior-Vice President of AFC
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 2013
President	Salman Al-Khalifa
Preceded by	Moya Dodd
In office 11 January 2007 – 1 August 2011
President	Mohammed Bin Hammam
Preceded by	Ali Bin Khalifa
Succeeded by	Moya Dodd
Acting President of AFC
In office 14 June 2011 – 1 May 2013
Vice President	Moya Dodd
Preceded by	Mohammed Bin Hammam
Succeeded by	Salman Al-Khalifa
Personal details
Born	Zhang Jilong (1952-02-09) 9 February 1952 Yantai, People's Republic of China
Occupation	Football administrator

Zhang Jilong (February 9, 1952 ~) is a Chinese football administrator who is serving as the senior vice president of Asian Football Federation (AFC) and an executive committeeman of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Zhang previously served as a Vice President of AFC from 2002 to 2011 and as Senior Vice President from 11 January 2007 to 1 August 2011. He had been the Acting President of the AFC from 14 June 2011 until 1 May 2013 after the resignation of Mohammed Bin Hammam.

Early life

Zhang was born in Yantai, Shandong, China on February 9, 1952. Zhang graduated from Beijing International Studies University in 1975. After graduation, Zhang returned to his home town, Yantai, at the age of 17and began a shipping/transportation work with the Grand China Logistics. Later Zhang joined the Chinese military in 1969 and after discharge he joined the National Athletic Committee of China while continuing studying at Beijing International Studies University.

CFA Career

After completion of his degree, Zhang worked in the foreign affairs department at the National Athletic Committee of China. In 1978, Zhang joined the Chinese Football Association (CFA). In 1979, he helped coach the Chinese sports delegation to Nigeria’s foreign aid work such as volleyball, table tennis, gymnastics and badminton at the age 24. Zhang was responsible for translation and liaison work for two years and ten months. In reference to his charity work, Zhang stated that, “in retrospect, when I feel most is that we need to make friends, only friends all over the world circumstances, our business can thrive well developed, our status will rise higher and higher."

AFC career

In 1989, Zhang joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and served as a representative in the Regulatory Compliance committee. In 1994, Zhang joined FIFA Women Committee and was elected to be the AFC Finance Committee chairman in April 2000. After Mohammed Bin Hammam was elected as AFC President, Zhang was named as one of vice presidents on 1 August, 2002. In January 2007, Zhang was elected as AFC Senior-Vice President. He ran for a seat on the FIFA executive committee on January 2011, but was defeated in a vote at the AFC's congress in Doha..

Bin Hammam was suspended by FIFA due to bribery allegations on 23 July 2011, and then he was officially dismissed as head of the Asian Football Confederation(AFC). On 29 July 2011, the members of AFC were informed that the legal committee was in agreement that an Extraordinary Congress for the election of President may be convened in the event that the office of President falls vacant for more than one year. This means that an Extraordinary Congress for this purpose could not be convened until after 30 May 2012 and Zhang will act as President until that date. Therefore, Zhang indeed acted as the first executive chairman due to the suspension of Bin Hammam. Zhang was also elected as a member of the FIFA Executive Committee.

In September 2012, Zhang retired from the State Sports General Administration foreign affairs, but he still served as Acting President in AFC.

On February 28, 2013, when Zhang was elected as the AFC Acting President, he said he would withdraw from the election of the next AFC President and FIFA Executive Committee. As reported, it was because Zhang did not get support from the Chinese Football Association.

"The Draw In Asia"

As for World Cup 2002, FIFA planned to carry out the seeding of the teams by calculating and referencing to the match records from the previous three World Cups. However, on the day before the draw, the president of FIFA, Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, suddenly decided that instead of referencing to the previous three records, the records from the previous two World Cups and the previous two Asia Cups would be considered as reference for seeding.

Since this new proposed rule did not benefit Chinese football team, Zhang called the secretary of the Asia Football association, Veerapan, and required to personally meet with Blatter in regards of the new rule. Zhang asserted that "FIFA should not interfere with the internal affairs of the Asian Football Association" and asked Blatter to take back the new rule. Veerapan accepted Zhang's proposal and expressed that he would discuss related matters with Blatter. Finally, the draw for the games took place in Bangkok on June 1, 2001 and the draw followed the rules originally set by the Asia Football Association instead of the one later one set by FIFA.

In the ballot for 2002 World Cup Asian Qualifying Groups, he helped the Chinese national football team to avoid playing games with the Saudi Arabia national football team and Iran national football team. The Chinese football team managed to achieve a "lucky draw" and was seeded wi th teams United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Qatar, and Oman. China won first place in the group and successfully entered the World Cup. It was the first and the only time that Chinese National Football Team became one of the World Cup Asian Qualification Teams in history.

External links

• Official AFC website

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Beijing International Studies University people Category:Association football executives Category:Asian Football Confederation