Confederation of African Football (CAF) will back Gianni Infantino in his bid to be re-elected as FIFA President for the third time.
CAF’s president Patrice Motsepe announced the decision during a press conference confirming the continent will back the incumbent president when the 73rd FIFA congress convenes next year.
Motsepe has been one of Infantino’s longest allies and the two appeared together at the launch of a newly proposed African Super League which is due to start in August 2023.
“We discussed at the executive committee meeting that in recognition of the huge contributions, commitment and the track record that you’ve built in terms of improving African football, all 54 member nations have taken a resolution to vote for you for re-election,” Motsepe told Infantino at the CAF General Assembly in Arusha.
Alongside CAF, Gianni Infantino also has the support of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) even though no challenger has emerged for Infantino’s seat.
If he wins unopposed it will be a repeat of the 2019 election.
Infantino was first elected FIFA president in February 2016 when he succeeded Sepp Blatter in the role.
He has spent a lot of time in Africa garnering support from a continent whose 54 nations are more than a quarter of FIFA’s 211 member associations and therefore make up a powerful voting bloc.
