The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which groups 47 national associations, declared its support on Friday for Gianni Infantino's re-election as FIFA president. The announcement was made by the body's president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, at an extraordinary congress in Tokyo, in front of the membership, and ended with an embrace between the two men.
Infantino is seeking a fourth term. The election is set for March.
Two months earlier, the same body spoke of a "breach of trust"
The endorsement reverses the position the AFC itself took just over two months ago, when it joined UEFA and CONCACAF in saying Infantino had committed a "fundamental breach of trust".
The accusation followed his plan to sell private investors a stake in FIFA's competitions, including the World Cup. The deal was valued at $4.2bn and was eventually abandoned. Last week in Zurich, Infantino apologised to FIFA's council — made up of 37 members — for the "mistakes" made in putting the proposal together.
Sheikh Salman acknowledged there had been "issues" in the past but said they should not be tied to the present endorsement, pointing to the Zurich meeting as the basis for a renewed understanding. He added that not every member association will necessarily follow the recommendation, though most are expected to.
Payments to associations rise from $1m every four years to $25m a year
In response, Infantino admitted the mistakes, said he had learned from them, and highlighted the increase in FIFA's financial support to member associations: according to him, the payment will rise from $1m every four years to $25m a year from 1 January.
The electoral arithmetic
Candidates have until 18 November to register against Infantino. So far, none has.
The arithmetic helps explain the weight of Friday's announcement: the AFC's 47 members amount to almost a quarter of FIFA's 211 member associations. A bloc of that size brings the incumbent closer to the simple majority he needs — even if, as Sheikh Salman himself noted, each association's vote is its own.
With information from Al Jazeera and inkl (The Independent).
