Marwan bin Ghalita beats Al Serkal for UAE FA president's post

Marwan bin Ghalita is the new UAE Football Association president.

Marwan bin Ghalita is the new UAE Football Association President and will serve for the next four years after winning a majority of votes at the UAEFA Elective General Assembly in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The former Al Nasr Club chairman beat incumbent Yousuf Al Serkal by four votes to take the top seat in UAE football.
 Thirty-four football clubs went into voting at the National Archive Centre in Abu Dhabi with Marwan ending Al Serkal's reign by logging 19 votes. Al Serkal was seeking a third term in office after he had held the position from 2004 to 2007 and 2012 till 2016. Al Serkal had led the FA on a temporary basis in 2011 after Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi had stepped down. Al Serkal logged 15 votes.
 Abdullah Nasser Al Junaibi and Saeed Obaid Al Tunaiji were elected as the Vice Presidents.
Voting began at 10.30am and it was an intense battle with both going wheel to wheel through most of it. But Marwan, who also holds the position of CEO at Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), nudged ahead during the closing stages of the voting.
 In the run-up to the elections, the 44-year-old Marwan had promised to revamp the working of the UAE FA. Another point on his agenda was to allot 25 percent of the FA's revenue to smaller clubs.
 "I'm sincerely thankful for the verdict and I will strive to take the UAE FA and UAE football forward," a jubilant Marwan bin Ghalita said after the Assembly. "We will work towards a better administration at the UAE FA. Also, we will look to help the small and amateur clubs and help them grow and come on par with the other clubs in UAE football," he added.
 Marwan, who resigned from the post of Al Nasr chairman to enter the fray, has represented Al Nasr at handball. He holds an engineering degree from the US as well as a degree in business administration.
Marwan also promised full support to the UAE team as they bid to qualify for the World Cup to be held in Russia in 2018. Mahdi Ali's men begin their third and final round of the World Cup Qualifiers on the road to Russia in September. Apart from that, Marwan is also tasked with hosting the AFC Asian Cup in 2019 on home soil. Marwan also said that special focus will be placed on developing the junior teams. Mohammed Ali Al Amri, chairman of the Elections Committee oversaw the UAEFA Elective General Assembly and was held in accordance with the conditions and stipulations of FIFA.
 Registration began at 9am and was open for an hour and 20 minutes for the representative of the member clubs of the general assembly. Each club was entitled to nominate three members to attend the general meeting including the candidates in any category.
After Marwan was elected, voting took place for the Vice Presidents, the board members and the women's category Article 27 of the rules. There were four candidates for the Vice Presidents posts and 23 candidates for the board members. Amal Bu Shallak was elected for the women's category as she was the sole member in the fray.