AFC election rules state that officials have to be "proposed by their Member Association" for any FIFA position.

However, the AFC Executive Committee passed a motion at their meeting in Abu Dhabi which means the vote for positions on the Council, due to be held in May, "will be conducted under the terms of the FIFA regulations which allows any member association to nominate a candidate".

Sheikh Ahmad could have been excluded from the race as the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) remains suspended from FIFA after a new law led to the dissolution of existing bodies, including the Kuwait Olympic Committee (KOC), and their replacement with Government-backed rivals.

Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah - Sheikh Ahmad's cousin - is thought to be at the heart of the dispute and blames the Olympic powerbroker for his defeat in the 2014 International Shooting Sport Federation Presidential election.

The AFC had initially scheduled Council elections for February 28 at an Extraordinary Congress in Kuala Lumpur but the AFC announced the meeting had been cancelled last month.

"The original date set for Kuala Lumpur had been based on the usual schedule of meetings for the FIFA Council, which would normally have met in March 2017 and with the newly elected AFC representatives," the AFC said in a statement.

"However, next year the FIFA Council will meet on January 10 to coincide with the Best FIFA Football Awards, which will be held in Zurich the day before."

It marks the second postponement of the vote for the AFC’s three additional representatives on the decision-making body, one of which must be a woman, after the AFC Extraordinary Congress in Goa in September was abandoned when the membership voted against the agenda.

The meeting lasted less than half-an-hour, with 42 of the voting 44 members raising a "No" card when President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa called for the agenda to be approved.

It appeared to be a show of defiance from the AFC after FIFA had banned Qatar Football Association vice-president Saoud Al-Mohannadi from standing for one of the available positions due to an ongoing Ethics Committee investigation on the eve of the vote.

Although he denies any wrongdoing, Al-Mohannadi was banned for one year by FIFA’s Ethics Committee last month.

He was found guilty of violating the duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting and general obligation to collaborate articles of the FIFA Code of Ethics by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, led by Hans-Joachim Eckert.

The Investigatory Chamber had initially called for the Qatari official, working as QFA general secretary when the country’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup was launched, to be banned for 30 months when proceedings were opened on September 6.

"The AFC will not compromise its principles," Shaikh Salman said.

"The AFC believes in fair play and reform and, most of all, the AFC stands united.

"It is that unity, under our banner One Asia, One Goal, which will provide the foundation for us as we continue to build a better future for this great game in Asia."