Africa and Asia back Infantino for unique fourth term as FIFA president

FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s hopes of securing re-election as the head of world football have received an enormous boost after pledges of support from the African and Asian regional confederations.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) both said on Thursday that they will back Infantino if, as expected, he stands for a fourth term as FIFA supremo in 2027.

In a brief statement before the FIFA Congress in Vancouver on Thursday, CAF said it had “unanimously agreed” to support Infantino when the FIFA chief stands for re-election in 2027.

The Asian Football Confederation also promised to support Infantino.

“FIFA is in its best position ever and we offer our continued and full support to [Infantino] as a candidate for FIFA President for the term 2027-2031, just as the AFC and Asian football has always supported him since his election in 2016,” AFC President Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement.

The African and Asian confederations account for 101 votes in FIFA’s presidential election out of a total of 211.

Infantino had already secured support for his re-election from South American football’s ruling body, CONMEBOL, which is worth a further 10 votes.

Infantino took over as head of FIFA in 2016 in the wake of the corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Sepp Blatter.

He was subsequently re-elected to the post in 2019 and 2023.

Although FIFA statutes limit FIFA presidents to three terms in office, Infantino is allowed to run for re-election next year after the body ruled that his first, partial term from 2016 to 2019 after Blatter’s ouster did not count towards the total.

Infantino has faced controversy during his reign over his close ties to United States President Donald Trump, who was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during last year’s World Cup draw.

That led to a formal complaint being lodged with FIFA’s ethics committee last year by the advocacy group FairSquare, which alleged that the award breached FIFA’s rules concerning political neutrality.

Infantino has also faced criticism for initiatives during his reign, including expanding the World Cup to 48 teams and launching the revamped 32-team FIFA Club World Cup last year.

The Swiss official, though, has presided over record revenues during his tenure, and this year’s World Cup is expected to rake in an estimated $13bn.

FIFA under Infantino has also dramatically increased funding distributed to FIFA’s 211 member associations via its FIFA Forward Program. In the cycle from 2027 to 2030, FIFA has pledged to distribute $2.7bn to members, an eight-fold increase compared with 10 years ago.