Mohammed Bin Hammam's lifetime ban from football is likely to transform Friday's scheduled Asian Football Confederation executive committee meeting into a platform for prospective candidates to campaign for votes to fill his presidential role.
AFC president since 2002, Bin Hammam plans to appeal the FIFA ethics committee ruling that the 62-year-old Qatari was guilty of trying to buy votes in his failed bid to oust Sepp Blatter as the head of world football in June.
China's Zhang Jilong, an AFC vice-president but not a member of the all-powerful FIFA executive committee, has been in temporary charge of the regional body since Bin Hammam was initially suspended at the end of May.
