The head of the Asian Football Confederation announced on Friday that the regional body is backing Gianni Infantino for another term as FIFA president. Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa delivered the endorsement during an extraordinary congress held in Tokyo, Japan.
The AFC includes 47 member confederations. Sheikh Salman noted that while every single member might not follow the leadership’s direction, those that do could secure another mandate for Infantino. The global football chief is seeking a fourth term in office.
The upcoming FIFA election is scheduled for March. Candidates face a filing deadline of November 18, and no opponents have entered the race so far.
Sheikh Salman embraced Infantino with a large hug in front of the membership before making his announcement. "We affirm our full commitment to supporting you and your leadership as you seek a new mandate as the FIFA president," Sheikh Salman told the gathering. "You have visited a lot of countries in Asia. I have spoken to a lot of members within this continent. I know your feeling, and I think your commitment is clear as well."
The endorsement marks a sharp turnaround from the AFC. Just over two months ago, the Asian body joined football governing bodies in Europe and North and Central America in stating that Infantino had committed a fundamental breach of trust.
The criticism followed a scrapped 4.2 billion dollar plan to sell a stake in FIFA events, including the World Cup, to private investors. Infantino apologized last week in Zurich to FIFA’s 37 member ruling council for mistakes made in assembling the proposal.
"Gianni, I want to make it clear, yes, we had some issues we spoke about in the past," Sheikh Salman said during his address. "But let us not relate the two things together. I think the last few days we met in Zurich, you made it clear that there is a true understanding between us."
Infantino took the podium after Sheikh Salman and acknowledged past errors while keeping his remarks light. "When you do many things, you do, hopefully, as we did, many good things, you do some mistakes as well," Infantino told the delegates.
The FIFA president also pointed to financial distributions during his speech. "Before I started as FIFA president, each of you was receiving one million dollars every four years," Infantino said, noting that the figure will rise to 25 million dollars as of January first.
