Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa believes the UAE have every chance of winning their bid to host the 2019 Asian Cup.

The UAE is up against some strong bids from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Oman and Kuwait – following the withdrawal of China and Bahrain – but having successfully hosted some major events such as the recent FIFA Under-17 World Cup, Sheikh Salman sees them as a worthy candidate.

“The UAE have successfully hosted many international competitions and major events in the past and that is what is helping their bid,” said Sheikh Salman, who was honoured in Dubai yesterday at the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards.

“Of course the decision is not in my hands as there is an executive committee that is responsible for studying all the bids but I believe the UAE has a strong chance.

“There are many countries in the running, it’s a tight race and the final decision will be announced around the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia.”

In what will also come as good news to the UAE national team and their coach Mahdi Ali, Sheikh Salman added that he is continuing to lobby FIFA to increase the number of places for Asian teams at the World Cup.

“The AFC has achieved many positives and our future goal is to get more Asian seats at the Russia 2018 World Cup,” he explained.

“We now have four and a half seats which is not satisfactory for us and we are fighting for more.

“The ratio between the number of countries in a continent and the number of seats per continent must be taken into consideration and we have submitted a formal request to FIFA and we’re hoping to get a positive result soon.”

Regarding the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the controversy surrounding the date of the competition, Sheikh Salman says a decision about whether it will be a winter or summer competition is expected to be taken next year.

He added: “I think things will become clearer.

“We’ve put a time schedule and by March 2015 the decision will be made.

“We’re talking with all the parties involved, the options are numerous and I don’t see a reason to rush into making a decision right now.”