Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president Mariano V. Araneta, Jr. was re-elected to the Fifa Council for the term 2019 until 2023.
Araneta’s new mandate came following the elections held during the 29th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress last Saturday.
According to the PFF, Araneta was one of the seven candidates for the five spots available for the Fifa Council position.
A total of 34 votes from the 46 AFC Member Associations present during the Congress voted for Araneta.
This will be Araneta’s second term as member of the Fifa Council after being elected to serve from 2017 to 2019.
“It is a great honor to be once again elected to the Fifa Council,” said Araneta in a statement. following his election.
Also re-elected is AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa for the term 2019-2023 by acclamation.
“I thank the Asian football family for giving me the opportunity to again serve in FIFA as a council member,” added Araneta.
Araneta once played for the Philippine national football team. He has been a member of the FIFA Council since May 2017.
Araneta was born on November 9, 1954 in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo. He played for his town’s team in province-wide football tournaments held during the summer and Christmas season during his childhood.
Araneta attended the University of the Philippines Iloilo in high school. He then took up Civil Engineering at the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines. He was a varsity player for both the university’s basketball and football team.
The Fifa Council is the main decision-making body of the organization. Its members are elected by the Fifa Congress. The council is a non-executive, supervisory and strategic body that sets the vision for Fifa and global football.
Following the 2016 Extraordinary Congress, Fifa announced that a new set of statutes would come into force. These changes have seen the Fifa Executive Committee changed, to become the Fifa Council, with a new structure, and more power. It is led by the President of Fifa.
It has also been announced that the Secretary General will now report to the council, and will work with a Chief Compliance Officer, who monitors the organization in their work.
