His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah thanked the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for all its help during his trip to the body's headquarters on Thursday.

The National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) Honorary President, His Royal Highness led an NFABD delegation that was paying its first visit to AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.

"We would like to thank the AFC, the focal point and centre of expertise in football in the continent, for its help and support to us," His Royal Highness was quoted as saying on the AFC website.

The newly-formed governing body for the sport in the Sultanate, His Royal Highness said that NFABD was relishing Brunei's return to the international scene after the former association, the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (Bafa), was suspended by Fifa in 2009.

"We are very happy and excited. We look forward to participating in as many football competitions as possible in the region or other parts of the world," said His Royal Highness. "We are also in the process of starting the national league.

"We have sent more than 100 forms to football clubs across the country and we are giving them a tentative deadline of this October. Half of the clubs have responded and I think the response is very encouraging," he added.

The delegation consisted of NFABD president Dato Paduka Abd Rahman Mohiddin, its general secretary Mohd Noor Abdullah and Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council secretary general Hj Zuraimi Hj Abdul Sani.

AFC acting president Zhang Jilong and its general secretary Alex Soosay received the delegation.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, AFC's legal committee yesterday said the regional body cannot elect a replacement for banned president Mohammad Bin Hammam until after May 30 next year.

Fifa slapped a life ban on Bin Hammam at the conclusion of a two-day ethics committee hearing last Saturday for attempting to bribe Caribbean officials during his withdrawn presidential challenge to incumbent Sepp Blatter.

The 62-year-old Bin Hammam, who was originally suspended by Fifa on May 29, has written to the AFC executive committee saying he would not resign his position and the panel seemed in no hurry to replace the Qatari.

"The members were informed that the legal committee is 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," the AFC said on its website after a marathon executive committee meeting.

"This means that an Extraordinary Congress for this purpose could not be convened until after 30 May, 2012.

Courtesy from Brunei Times