Six Arab countries announce support for FIFA president

1 hour ago

Six Arab countries have announced their support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The heads of six Arab national football associations, including 2022 World Cup host Qatar and 2030 World Cup candidate Morocco, have expressed their support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Infantino, who is up for re-election next year, is facing opposition from three major confederations - UEFA (Europe), AFC (Asia) and CONCACAF (North and Central America). These organisations had demanded his resignation after his scrapped plan to attract private investment in FIFA competitions, particularly the World Cup.

The main disagreement concerns the Swiss official's proposal to spin off the commercial rights to the World Cup and sell 20 percent of it to private investors, raising an estimated $4.2 billion. If the project were to go ahead, member associations would receive $20 million for the next funding cycle, with that amount doubling once the agreement was fully signed. However, this proposal was withdrawn due to objections.

In the face of such pressure, the heads of the national federations of Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, Egypt and Mauritania (four of which are members of the FIFA Council) issued a joint statement:

“Recognizing the important role of Arab football in bringing people together and strengthening cooperation between football associations in the Arab world, we express our full support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino. We also appreciate his leadership and his work in developing world football.

We highly appreciate Mr. Infantino’s work to develop football globally, expand opportunities in all regions and strengthen the role of the game in uniting societies. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with him towards a stronger and more prosperous future for world football,” the official statement said.

For your information, 136 of the 211 members with the right to vote in the FIFA presidential election to be held in March 2026 will be from the European, Asian, and North and Central American confederations.