Bin Hammam of Qatar retained his executive committee seat after a slender win over Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa.

He beat the Bahraini 23-21 in a ballot of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) members.

"I'm very happy for Bin Hammam. His presence gives more power to Arab countries," fellow executive committee member Abou-Reida told FilGoal.com on Friday.

"Arab countries now have two representatives in the committee and this means that they are regaining their influence.

"My relationship with Bin Hammam is very good but I was not biased towards him especially that his competitor was also an Arab."

Abou-Reida was voted as North Africa’s representative in FIFA's executive committee in February after beating off competition from Tunisian Selim Shayboub.