Aug 13 (Reuters) – Six heads of Arab national football associations, including Qatar and 2030 World Cup co-hosts Morocco, backedFIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday, with the game’s world governing body in crisis following a failed private investment plan.
Infantino, who is seeking reelection next year, has faced open revolt after three confederations — UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF — attacked his conduct and called for him to quit over his aborted bid to bring private investment into FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.
The Swiss administrator had proposed carving off the commercial rights to the World Cup and selling 20% to private investors to raise about $4.2 billion before a U-turn following the furore.
“Recognising the important role of Arab football in bringing people together and strengthening cooperation among football associations across the Arab world, we … express our full support for Mr Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, and reaffirm our confidence in his leadership and continued commitment to the development of football worldwide,” the heads of the six federations said in a joint statement.
The statement was signed by the head of the national federation of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, as well as Hany Abo Rida, head of Egypt’s football federation and the heads of the Lebanese, Moroccan, Sudanese and Mauritanian federations.
Four of the six signatories — Al Thani, Abo Rida, Morocco’s Fouzi Lekjaa and Mauritania’s football chief Ahmed Yahya –are also FIFA Council members.
“We deeply appreciate Mr Infantino’s sustained efforts to advance football globally, expand opportunities across all regions and strengthen the game’s role in bringing people and communities together,” they said.
“We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with him towards a stronger and more prosperous future for world football, expanding opportunities and further enhancing Arab football’s contribution to the global game.”
Some of the federations are members of the Asian Football Confederation that had expressed disappointment when Infantino’s plan was announced and was seen as potentially aligning itself with European soccer governing body UEFA’s condemnation.
SUPPORT WITHDRAWN
Ireland on Thursday joined a growing list of countries who have withdrawn their support for Infantino.
“Following an FAI Board Meeting, the decision was taken to rescind the letter of support that the association supplied earlier this year. It has since written to FIFA to explain its reasoning,” it said in a statement.
“The association is grateful for the support that FIFA provides to Irish football, but recent events have raised significant concerns regarding governance, transparency and the lack of meaningful consultation.”
Infantino’s withdrawn proposal came with a $20 million grant for member associations for the next funding cycle, an amount that could have been doubled if they signed the deal.
Following a crisis meeting in Morocco last week, FIFA apologised to its 211 member associations for mistakes in the handling of the proposal and said its leadership had full support for Infantino.
Despite the opposition of the three confederations, which represent 136 of the 211 member associations who will vote in the FIFA presidential election in March, Infantino still has plenty of allies in the game.
The full backing by the six national federations, many of them AFC members, shows that block voting is extremely unlikely, even if the confederations themselves have taken a clear position, with each national federation having one vote. The Confederation of African Football has also supported Infantino.
The Swiss would need a simple majority of 106 votes should he face only one rival in next year’s vote. Should there be three or more candidates in total then Infantino would need a two-thirds majority or 141 votes in the first round of voting.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Additional reporting by Phil O’Connor; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Ken Ferris)
