Cameroon federation president Eto'o urges African federations to support Infantino
Cameroon Football Federation president Samuel Eto'o has called on African football federations to support FIFA president Gianni Infantino. In his view, Infantino has contributed to the faster development of the continent's federations and expanded opportunities for African countries to participate in the World Cup, Channel NewsAsia reports.
Eto'o's arguments
In an interview with the French publication L'Équipe, the former Cameroon national team striker said that Infantino had changed football and helped the African continent. According to Eto'o, the FIFA president gave countries that previously had no such chance the opportunity to play at the World Cup.
Infantino said he would stand for re-election at the FIFA Congress on March 18, 2027. Africa had nine direct places at the expanded 48-team World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States this summer, compared with five places for the continent at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
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UEFA's position
Eto'o's position differs from UEFA's increasingly confrontational attitude towards Infantino. The European football body opposed a proposal to transfer commercial rights related to the men's and women's World Cups and the Club World Cup to a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, with a stake for outside investors. FIFA said it had definitively withdrawn the project.
UEFA, however, continued to question the way the initiative was implemented and sought permission from a US court to obtain evidence for a possible criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino, other FIFA officials and advisers. The body also said it was working with partners and stakeholders on a new way to distribute resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
Eto'o stressed that African federations cannot assess FIFA policy in the same way as wealthier football countries because they depend heavily on state funding. He cited the example of federations with a budget of 150,000 euros and said that the lack of resources also leads to African countries losing potential talents to Europe.
