The Asian Football Confederation has endorsed Gianni Infantino for another term as Fifa’s president in a turnaround in its stance from two months ago when it criticised the head of football’s world governing body for a breach of trust.
The AFC president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, speaking at the body’s extraordinary congress in Tokyo on Friday, embraced Infantino with a large hug in front of the membership as he delivered his endorsement.
“We affirm our full commitment to supporting you and your leadership as you seek a new mandate as the Fifa president.” Sheikh Salman said. “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 AFC has 47 member associations. Even if all the members do not follow the direction of Sheikh Salman, those votes could be a key to guaranteeing another mandate for Infantino. The Fifa election is in March and nominations close on 18 November. So far no one is standing against him.
Addressing his remarks to Infantino, Sheikh Salman indicated not every AFC member would go along with the endorsement but that most will. “My feeling is, I’m sure, the feeling of most of my members,” he said. “And I’ve said that to you.”
This is an abrupt turnaround for Sheikh Salman. In August, the AFC joined Uefa and Concacaf – the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation – in saying that Infantino had committed a “fundamental breach of trust”. They wrote an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.
Infantino apologised last week in Zurich to Fifa’s council – which he chairs – for “mistakes” he made in assembling a now-scrapped $4.2bn plan to sell chunks of the World Cup to private investors. Sheikh Salman referenced the differences with Infantino in his speech but glossed over any details.
“Yes, we had some issues we spoke about in the past,” he said. “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.”
Even before the AFC endorsement the indications were that Infantino was edging toward a simple majority of the 211 Fifa member federations.
The largest applause came at the end of Sheikh Salman’s address when he repeated his support for Infantino. Fifa’s president took the podium after and acknowledged some errors. “When you do many things, you do – hopefully, as we did, many good things – you do some mistakes as well,” Infantino said.
The largest applause came as he mentioned how, under his leadership, more millions were flowing. “Before I started as Fifa president, each of you, some of you are still [here] and still remember that time … Each of you was receiving $1m every four years. As of the first of January of next year, it will be $25m.”
