Reigning FIFA President Gianni Infantino has found another strong ally for his re-election bid with The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) unanimously throwing its support behind the Swiss/Italian national.
FIFA’s next election will take place at its 73rd FIFA congress in March next year.
The 52-year-old is seeking a third term as the head of the governing body of international football having occupied the post since 2016 after defeating Sheikh Salman to claim the presidency in 2016 following Sepp Blatter’s resignation.
After participating in the inauguration of the APF Women’s High-Performance Center, Gianni Infantino met with the members of the CONMEBOL Council, at the Confederation headquarters, in Luque, Paraguay.
“After a conversation about the current reality and the future scenario for South American and world football, the CONMEBOL member associations gave their unanimous support to Infantino…,” CONMEBOL said in a joint statement.
Infantino already has the support of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) who have already pledged their allegiances to the current president in recent months.
CAF’s president Patrice Motsepe has been one of Infantino’s longest allies due to Infantino’s constant support for African Football while AFC’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has backed Infantino to strengthen his own re-election bid and maintain the staus-quo.
Infantino’s tenure has recently been marred in controversy with former UEFA President Michel Platini accusing the Swiss of sabotaging him and Sepp Blatter with falsified charges in order the success Blatter as FIFA President.
The World Cup in Qatar has also become a contentious topic with many participating countries protesting Qatar’s execrable human rights record during the preparation for the tournament in some way or other, all of which occurred during his presidency.
All the controversy has done little to dampen his bid though as he looks set for another term.
