The agenda for the AFC was rejected ©AFC/Twitter

Elections for three vacant seats on the new FIFA Council were called off today at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Extraordinary Congress in Goa after the agenda was rejected by a near-unanimous margin.

In a meeting lasting just 26 minutes, 42 of the 44 voting members raised a "No" card when Bahrain's AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa called for the agenda to be approved.

Only one delegate voted in favour.

This follows FIFA's decision yesterday to ban Qatar Football Association vice-president Saoud Al-Mohannadi from standing due to an ongoing Ethics Committee investigation.

Al-Mohannadi, who is alleged to have committed a series of ethics breaches, including duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting and general obligation to collaborate with an investigation, was considered one of the favourites.

This decision is thought to be the reason why the agenda was rejected.

"This has been an eventful morning - and an eventful few weeks," said Sheikh Salman afterwards.

"But the Congress has spoken with one voice and that has been clear for us all to see.

"FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, I am not sure if you have been at a shorter Congress but I think you can see the strength of opinion in the room."

Infantino, present at the meeting, has promised a clean-up of FIFA after corruption scandals and bribery allegations have torn apart the world governing body.

Al-Mohannadi denies wrongdoing and had been expected to be allowed to stand until FIFA's late decision to bar him.

One of the three available FIFA positions must be given to a woman, with FIFA Taskforce for Women’s Football chair Moya Dodd of Australia, who was a coopted member of the Executive Committee, going up against AFC Executive Committee members Mahfuza Ahkter of Bangladesh and Han Un-Gyong of North Korea.

Iran's Ali Kafashian Naeni, Chinese Football Association secretary general Zhang Jian and AFC governance reform taskforce member Zainudin Nordin of Singapore were bidding for the other two available slots for Asia on the Council.

It is thought that it could be many months before an election will now take place.

The AFC is required to give at least 30 days' notice while FIFA can also take up to four months to approve candidates.