| Prince Ali bin Al Hussein | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Prince Ali in 2016 | |||||
| Born | (1975-12-23)23 December 1975 (age 49) Amman, Jordan | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue |
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| House | Hashemite | ||||
| Father | Hussein of Jordan | ||||
| Mother | Alia Toukan | ||||
| Occupation | |||||
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein[1] (Arabic:الأمير علي بن الحسين; born 23 December 1975) is the third son ofKing Hussein ofJordan, and the second child of the king by his third wife,Queen Alia. He is also the half brother ofKing Abdullah II. He is a member of theHashemite family, which has ruled Jordan since 1921 and states to be a descendant of theIslamic prophetMuhammad.
In September 2015, Prince Ali announced his candidacy in theFIFA presidential election followingSepp Blatter's resignation.[2]
Prince Ali began his primary education at the Islamic Educational College in Amman. He continued his studies in the United Kingdom, the United States and graduated fromSalisbury School in Connecticut in 1993, where he excelled in wrestling.[3]
Prince Ali is fluent in Arabic, English, andCircassian.[4]
In 1998 Prince Ali went on a publicized horseback journey to the Caucasus (Circassia), from Jordan through Syria and Turkey, to raise awareness of theCircassian diaspora worldwide. The trip traced (in reverse) the path of theexodus that brought the Circassians to Jordan.[5][6]
He is married toRym Brahimi, they married on September 7, 2004. She is the daughter ofLakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Minister for Foreign Affairs and senior UN official. She was raised in Great Britain and Algeria and was educated in France and the United States. They live in Amman with their two children Princess Jalila bint Ali and Prince Abdullah bin Ali.
In 1999, Prince Ali was asked to serve as commander ofKing Abdullah II′s Special Security in the Royal Guards. He served in that capacity until 28 January 2008, when the king entrusted Prince Ali with establishing and directing theNational Centre for Security and Crisis Management. He is also the chairman of Jordan'sRoyal Film Commission - Jordan.[citation needed]
Prince Ali is president of theJordan Football Association. He is also the founder and president of theWest Asian Football Federation, and under his presidency the membership has increased to 13 countries.
Prince Ali announced his candidacy forFIFA President, representing Asia, on 7 October 2010. Ali's campaign focused on change, football ideals, and uniting and raising the profile of Asian countries, within FIFA and generally.[7]Prince Ali won the election for the position of FIFA vice president, representing Asia (25 votes to 20 for his opponent DrChung Mong-joon) at the AFC Congress in Doha, Qatar, on 6 January 2011. As FIFA vice president, Prince Ali served as a member of both the FIFA and AFC Executive Committees.
Prince Ali successfully championed the lifting of FIFA's ban on thehijab in women's football.[8]
Ali was one of a number of FIFA officials to call for the publication of theGarcia Report into allegations of corruption surrounding Russia and Qatar's bids for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.[9]
in 2012, Prince Ali set up the Asian Football Development Programme (AFDP), a social enterprise focused on Asia and the Middle East which aimed to unite and transform communities through football, promoting respect and tolerance for others, fostering team spirit and developing talent.
Its achievements include reaching over 80,000 young people directly through its projects, training over 500 coaches, administrators and referees in refugee camps,[10][11] schools and clubs; distributing 100,000 footballs to young people's programmes and organizations and completing 30 projects across 25 countries.[12]
In October 2018,AFDP Global was launched at theEmirates Stadium in London.[13] AFDP Global's mission is to extend this work to all regions of the world.[14][15]
Ali lost the2015 FIFA Presidency election toSepp Blatter after resigning before second round voting took place. Blatter secured 60 more votes than Ali in the first round of voting, shy of the two thirds majority required to win in the first round, though with only a simple majority required in subsequent rounds Ali's defeat appeared to be inevitable.[16]
However, following Blatter's announcement in June 2015 that he would resign from the post of FIFA president amid theongoing corruption scandal,[17][18] Ali announced in September 2015 that he would run for FIFA president again in the2016 special election.[2] Ali finished third in the first round behindGianni Infantino andSalman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, polling 27 votes. In the second round, Ali again finished third behind the aforementioned duo, garnering a greatly reduced total of 4 votes.[19]
Jordan
Austria: Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash of theDecoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria[24]
Denmark: Grand Cross of theOrder of the Dannebrog[21]
France: Knight of theOrder of the Legion of Honour[25]
Germany: Grand Cross 1st Class of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[21]
Japan: Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Rising Sun
Sweden:
Netherlands: Grand Cross of theOrder of Orange Nassau
Pahang,Malaysia: The Highest EsteemedRoyal Family Order of Pahang (DK II)[27]Prince Ali holds the rank ofbrigadier in theJordanian Armed Forces.[citation needed]
| Royal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Prince Muhammad bin Faisal | Line of succession to the Jordanian throne 7th position | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
