Asian backing boosts Infantino as UEFA questions remain
Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman has endorsed Gianni Infantino’s re-election, strengthening his position despite continuing European opposition, although Japan says the confederation’s members are not necessarily united behind him.
Gianni Infantino has secured the backing of Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa for another term as FIFA president, marking a shift from the AFC’s criticism of his abandoned commercial investment proposal.The endorsement strengthens Infantino’s position ahead of the November 18 nomination deadline, although it does not guarantee the votes of individual Asian associations and comes while UEFA continues to demand governance disclosures.Addressing Infantino at the AFC’s extraordinary congress in Tokyo, Sheikh Salman said: “We affirm our full commitment to supporting you and your leadership as you seek a new mandate as the FIFA president.“You’ve visited a lot of countries in Asia. I’ve spoken to a lot of members within this continent. I know your feeling and I think your commitment is clear as well.”The support follows an August statement in which the AFC joined other confederations in accusing Infantino of a fundamental breach of trust over FIFA Forward Enterprise.The withdrawn initiative envisaged selling a minority stake in a company holding commercial interests in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.Infantino apologised at this month’s FIFA Council meeting for mistakes in consultation and communication, while confirming the project would not return.Sheikh Salman acknowledged the disagreement but argued that it should not determine the relationship going forward. He said: “Gianni, I want to make it clear. Yes, we had some issues we spoke about in the past.“But let’s not relate the two things together. I think the last few times we met in Zurich you made it clear that there’s a true understanding between us.“We’ve all, I’m sure, learned important lessons from it. What matters now is how we move forward together. I think everyone has questions and I’m sure the answers will be available, whether to us in Asia, or the rest of the world.”The AFC has 47 members, but its endorsement should not be treated as a confirmed allocation of 47 FIFA presidential votes.Japan Football Association president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto said his organisation was considering alignment with the AFC but had not reached a decision.Miyamoto said: “I don’t think the AFC members’ opinions are all aligned together, but I believe the AFC and FIFA have been holding meetings on an ongoing basis.”Saudi Arabia and Qatar have already publicly backed Infantino, while African support has further strengthened his campaign ahead of March’s election.The political backing accompanies FIFA’s proposed increase in development allocations to US$25m per member association for the next four-year cycle.Infantino highlighted that funding growth in his address, contrasting it with the US$1m allocations available before he became president in 2016.He also acknowledged mistakes, saying: “The important thing, however, is, as you said, to learn always from the experience, from the mistakes, to apologize, to move ahead, to come together, to unite, to build for our future, for your future.”Infantino reciprocated Sheikh Salman’s endorsement, supporting the AFC president as he also seeks another term.He said: “You’ve been doing a fantastic job in AFC in the last 13 years, my dear Salman. You will do fantastically as well for the next how many years you want. And always, always with my full support, with the partnership of FIFA.”UEFA’s position remains different, with its request for written answers and documents by November 2 covering the abandoned investment proposal, the FIFA Peace Prize and other governance concerns.FIFA has promised to respond but has not committed publicly to that deadline, leaving the disclosure timetable unresolved before presidential nominations close.