African football chiefs back Infantino as FIFA president fights to retain support

WEB DESK: Leading African football administrators have thrown their support behind FIFA President Gianni Infantino as he seeks backing from the continent’s 54 member associations to strengthen his position ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Five influential figures from African football have issued statements backing Infantino while welcoming FIFA’s decision to abandon a controversial proposal to sell a stake in future World Cup revenues.

The statements came ahead of a Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee meeting on Thursday, where officials are set to discuss the scrapped plan that aimed to raise $4.2 billion through a new commercial rights entity.

The proposal had faced criticism from several confederations, with Asia, Europe and CONCACAF, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, saying they had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership.

However, CAF has so far remained silent on the broader dispute, offering Infantino a potential source of support as he attempts to secure backing from Africa’s large voting bloc ahead of the FIFA presidential election scheduled for March next year.

CAF only released a statement last Wednesday saying it would study Infantino’s FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative, but he abandoned the project under intense pressure on Friday.

It remains an item on the agenda for the CAF meeting, although there is no guarantee African football’s governing body will take any stand on Infantino’s future.

But leading committee members say they are backing Infantino, including CAF Vice President Fouzi Lekjaa from Morocco and fellow FIFA Council members Hany Abo Rida (Egypt), Hamidou Djibrilla (Niger) and Ahmed Yhaya (Mauritania).

There has also been a statement of support from Veron Mosengo-Omba, recently elected president of the football federation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and former CAF general secretary, who studied at university in Switzerland with Infantino.

All released similarly worded messages welcoming Infantino’s decision to abandon the project before praising him and expressing support.

African countries helped Infantino secure his election in 2016 on the back of his promises to more than double the development money disbursed to FIFA’s member associations.

It is this largesse that has helped keep him popular among African members, many of whom struggle financially and now largely depend on FIFA money to compete.

“Our problem is how to obtain money. Right now, we have no sponsors. So how do we compete? The richest nations can train players, have infrastructure and equipment, and it’s no coincidence that they then achieve results. Most European countries don’t have these problems,” said Saïd Ali Athouman, the president of the Comoros Football Federation.

“Our government is not able to make sure that they have medical supplies in hospitals and at the same time to look at football. Malawi needs money. Malawi needs stadiums,” added Fleetwood Haiya, president of the Football Association of Malawi.

FIFA baseline funding guarantees each of its 211 member associations $8 million over a four-year cycle, plus CAF also now offers an annual grant to its members.

Gifting grants

Gifting grants to member associations was first floated by Infantino’s predecessor, Sepp Blatter, when he stood for election against Lennart Johansson in 1998. He won with backing from most African countries, who had never before received financial help from world football’s governing body, even though CAF formally endorsed the Swede, who was then UEFA president.

Infantino continued Blatter’s idea, although he renamed it from the Goal Project to FIFA Forward, and exponentially increased the monies.

Motsepe was effusive in his praise for Infantino days before the World Cup sell-off scandal broke.

“I personally support Gianni Infantino,” he said. “He’s not just a good friend. He’s a loyal friend. He’s loyal to Africa. I come from a background where when people have been loyal to you, you never stab them in the back.”