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Reuters

Another crack appeared in the Asian Football Confederation’s stance against Gianni Infantino on Thursday, when the heads of six Arab national associations threw their support behind the embattled Fifa president.
Among those publicly supporting the game’s top official after his failed plan to sell off the World Cup plunged football into crisis, were 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar and 2030 co-hosts Morocco.
Infantino, who is seeking re-election next year, has faced open revolt after three confederations – Uefa, the AFC ‌and Concacaf – 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 per cent to private investors to raise about US$4.2 billion.
“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 AFC, which released an open letter along with Uefa and Concacaf that accused Infantino of deception, and called for a third-party review of Fifa’s role in the incident.
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.
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.


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Sport

Football

Qatar, Morocco among six federations who sign joint statement backing under-fire Fifa president Gianni Infantino


Qatar, Morocco among six federations who sign joint statement backing under-fire Fifa president Gianni Infantino.


Asian Football Confederation (AFC)

Uefa

Arab federations publicly back Infantino, affirm ‘confidence in his leadership’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Qatar, Morocco among six federations who sign joint statement backing under-fire Fifa president Gianni Infantino

Qatar, Morocco among six federations who sign joint statement backing under-fire Fifa president Gianni Infantino