Husain Al-Musallam

Husain Al-Musallam (; born 19 May 1960) is a Kuwaiti sports administrator and former airline pilot. He currently serves as the Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, Secretary General of the Kuwait Olympic Committee (KOC), and the president of World Aquatics.

Early life and career Musallam was born on 19 May 1960 in Kuwait. He joined the swimming club of Kazma Sports Club at the age of 8 and became a member of the national team at 13. Between 1974 and 1976, he competed in all Pan-Arab, Asian and World Swimming Championships.

In 1978 he joined Kuwait Airways Corporation as a co-pilot and promoted to airline captain in 1988. He has worked as a training and check captain since 1994.

On 30 June 2019 he was elected as the Secretary General of the Kuwait Olympic Committee.

World Aquatics In 2015 he was elected as First Vice President of International Swimming Federation (FINA), and became president in 2021. In December 2022, FINA changed its name to World Aquatics. In July 2023, Musallam was elected to a new eight-year term as the president of the World Aquatics organization.

Controversies

Implication in FIFA bribery scandal In May 2017, The Times suggested that Hussain Al-Musallam was "co-conspirator #3" in a US Department of Justice indictment of Richard Lai, a former member of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee and head of the Guam Football Association. In his guilty plea, Richard Lai admitted to accepting $750,000 in wire transfers from accounts controlled by "co-conspirator #3" or his assistants. The OCA, in a written statement to The Times, denied the allegations and "asked the OCA ethics committee to carry out a full review." American prosecutors "wanted to establish if the suspects made other payments to [Richard] Lai, or if their accounts were used to wire possible bribe payments to other soccer officials."

IOC ethics investigation into an alleged commission request In July 2017, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Commission launched an investigation into Al-Musallam, in his capacity as the Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), following allegations reported by The Times, Der Spiegel, and SwimVortex. These reports accused Al-Musallam of attempting to secure a 10% commission from potential sponsorship contracts. The controversy stemmed from a recorded conversation, released by journalist Jens Weinreich, which documented a meeting between Al-Musallam and a Chinese marketing agent. During this meeting, Al-Musallam is allegedly heard proposing that he and OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah receive 10% of any OCA sponsorship deals for the Asian Games as a 'commission'.

Al-Musallam asserted that the recording was misinterpreted, saying that, under the proposal, "10 per cent of the Rights Fee would go directly to the OCA (hence to 'us')", and that he "did not personally request any commission for [himself] at any stage nor did [he] receive any commission". Al-Musallam described the allegations as "baseless" and "politically motivated", and said KOC's Ethics Commission had cleared him of wrongdoing related to a contract with the Gulf State Games, having found "no violation of the rules" after reviewing all documentation.

Financial irregularities within Asia Aquatics Again in early 2024 various reports emerged alleging financial irregularities within Asia Aquatics during Al-Musallam’s tenure. According to leaked correspondence from the Asia Aquatics Secretary General, substantial support funds provided by Kuwait’s Public Authority for Sport could not be accounted for, prompting calls for clarification from member federations ahead of the Asia Aquatics Congress. The KOC President also referred concerns to the Kuwait Ethics Commission and national anti-corruption authorities in relation to contract awards involving a company linked to Al-Musallam’s close relative.

Others In May 2025, new reports accused Al-Musallam of distributing bribes using funds from the OCA and the Association of National Olympic Committees, supporting Kirsty Coventry's IOC presidential election, and negotiating the 2036 Olympics between Qatar and India to "save himself" amid investigations. Allegations also emerged regarding his acquisition of a Hungarian passport and property in Hungary, potentially funded through questionable means, alongside plans to relocate World Aquatics headquarters to Budapest by 2027.