(CHEN SHAOJIN)

Zhang Jilong, Director of the International Exchange Center of the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC), has been appointed acting president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on May 31 in place of AFC's former president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was suspended from all football activities over bribery allegations.

"My priority in the new post is to ease the negative effect of the Bin Hammam corruption allegations on Asian soccer. We should aim to improve AFC operations and make it run more transparently," said Zhang, 59, the most senior vice president of AFC before the appointment.

Zhang was appointed deputy chairman of the Chinese Football Association in 1978 and deputy director of the Chinese Football Administrative Center under GASC in 2008.