FFA chairman Frank Lowy's revelation late on Thursday night that his organisation would support Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the sole challenger left standing against Blatter, puts Australia starkly at odds with its regional neighbours.

During Blatter's period at the helm FIFA has become a byword for sleaze and corruption, and despite the shocking arrests of numerous high-profile figures amid allegations of fraud, corruption and racketeering and the probe by Swiss authorities into the legitimacy of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, the  79 year-old Swiss who's presided over FIFA for nearly 20 years was refusing to step down.

The AFC has long been a supporter of Blatter, and it has considerable muscle and influence in the corridors of FIFA. Its wealth, derived from its oil and resource-rich Middle East members, ensures its voice gets heard when big decisions are made.

Australia's call to break ranks with its regional powerbrokers has gained the nation kudos with America and Europe.

The Americans are leading the charge against FIFA's corruption, and co-ordinated the arrests, while the Europeans have long campaigned against Blatter and the culture of graft which has developed within FIFA in past decades.

It has also won widespread support at home, where horrified football fans and those with only the most cursory interest in the sport see the drama unfolding and wonder how such individuals can be allowed to remain in control of the governance of the world's biggest sport.

But the public declaration will certainly play differently in Asia, especially in the Gulf states and the Middle East where hostility against the presence of Australia in the region is only thinly veiled at the best of times.

Australia was, until 2005, a member of the Oceania Federation, a low-quality football region made up of tiny Pacific nations where the only half-serious competition came from New Zealand.

Lowy made it very clear as soon as he ascended to the top of the newly created FFA that one of his first priorities would be to get Australia out of Oceania and into Asia, where it could experience much tougher competition regularly.

He developed close links with the then AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam, a now disgraced Qatari who was the fixer for Qatar's shock win in the contest to host the 2022 World Cup. Lowy lobbied Bin Hammam and others hard until the AFC, reluctantly, it now seems, gave the go-ahead to Australia to join.

That gave the Socceroos entree to the Asian Cup, A-League clubs the chance to play in the Asian Champions League, and meant that Australia would from then on try to qualify for the World Cup through an Asian qualifying system. The Socceroos now play against the likes of Japan, South Korea, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE rather than face the prospect of a final qualifying play-off against the likes of Uruguay or Argentina, giants of the game.

As a result, Australia has qualified for the past two World Cups, which has miffed many in the region, particularly the Arab countries of what is known as "West Asia" who see Australia's presence as an impediment to one of their number qualifying.

(The region's other superpowers, Japan and South Korea, seem to manage it whatever the opposition.)

The question that must be asked in the wake of Australia's declaration against Blatter is whether this simmering hostility will boil over now that the opponents of Australia's position in the region have been given a pretext to take action?

During the Asian Cup there were stories that several leading West Asian nations did not want Australia to remain in the AFC. Amongst the more vociferous opponents, according to reports, is Sheikh Ahmed of Kuwait, who is a candidate for Saturday's FIFA executive committee elections. If successful he would go on to the committee that exercises the most control over FIFA policy.

At the time of the Asian Cup, Bahrain's Sheikh Salman moved quickly to try to douse speculation that some in Asia were gearing up to throw Australia out.

"Australia is a full member of the Confederation. After this tournament if there is some doubt about Australia coming into this Confederation, I think it showed how big a success this has been. We all know that some member associations doubted whether Australia coming into the Confederation was good or bad," he said last January.

The fact that Australia has now so publicly stepped out of line with the AFC will give opponents the chance to mount another argument that this country does not belong, although booting Australia out looks a long shot.

They also should perhaps be mindful that action might invoke the law of unintended consequences. If moves are made to jettison Australia, it is likely to open up the debate once again over the unwieldy nature of the Asian Confederation and whether it should be split in two.

Some argue that it would make logistical sense to keep West Asia together in a separate group as one Confederation, and have East Asia, led by Japan, South Korea and Australia, in another. Then countries from Central Asia could play in whichever confederation was more suitable geographically or culturally.