One month after FIFA chose Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, the tiny emirate hosts a congress of 45 Asian football nations, which will vote for a vice president to represent it on the governing body's ruling executive committee.

Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan is the challenger seeking united Arab support to help unseat the incumbent Chung Mong-joon of South Korea, a 16-year veteran of FIFA politics.

A victory for Prince Ali would end any ambitions Chung may have to challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in June.

Blatter is in Doha to witness the Asian vote and build support in his own campaign for a fourth four-year term in office.

The prince met with Blatter at his Zurich office in November, days before Qatar won the 2022 rights and Russia got the 2018 World Cup in contests marred by allegations of corruption in FIFA's high command.

Prince Ali has since positioned himself as a fresh alternative for FIFA, which barred two members of the 24-man executive body from the World Cup vote.

"We have to bring back the reputation of this organization to where it should be," Prince Ali said in a recent interview. "We want people who you know for sure will not be part of issues like that." Chung has never been tainted by suspicion in the sometimes murky world of FIFA finances.

The Korean lawmaker, whose family firm Hyundai is a top-tier FIFA sponsor, used his personal wealth last year to donate more than $1 million toward disaster relief in Pakistan, Indonesia, Haiti and Chile.

Prince Ali has proposed a vice president's development fund to back grass roots projects across the Asian Football Confederation.

Aged 35, the prince is at least 17 years younger than each of his potential FIFA executive colleagues.

However, he has led the Jordan Football Association since 1999, and the following year founded the West Asian Football Federation, which includes Qatar, Iran, Iraq and Palestine.

The AFC congress, on the eve of the 16-nation Asian Cup competition, is a timely showcase confirming gas-rich Qatar as a major player on the world football stage, despite a playing ranking of No. 114.

The event will crown Qatar's Mohamed bin Hammam in his home city as AFC president unopposed for a third and final term.

Bin Hammam, who also has FIFA leadership ambitions, is secure in his executive seat for two more years after he won a bitter 2009 contest against a Bahraini candidate that involved public verbal battles with Chung.

Asia sends four delegates to the governing body's ruling executive, and the other two positions are also elected Thursday.

One seat is being defended by Thailand's Worawi Makudi; the other was vacated by Japan's Junji Ogura, who is 72 and barred by AFC age rules from standing.

Alongside Makudi, the candidates are Vernon Manilal Fernando of Sri Lanka, China's Zhang Jilong and Kohzo Tashima of Japan.

The winners will be installed at the FIFA Congress scheduled May 31-June 1.

Defeats for Chung and Tashima would see Asian football influence drift away from South Korea and Japan, which co-hosted the 2002 World Cup but were easily defeated by Qatar for 2022 rights.