Infantino re-election boost after securing Asia, Africa backing

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has won support from Asia and Africa ahead of his expected bid for re-election next year (Kent NISHIMURA)

(Kent NISHIMURA/AFP/AFP)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino's hopes of securing re-election as the head of world football received a massive boost on Thursday after pledges of support from the African and Asian regional confederations.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC)  both said they will back Infantino, who confirmed on Thursday at FIFA's Congress in Vancouver that he will run for re-election in 2027.

Earlier, CAF said it had "unanimously agreed" to support Infantino when the FIFA chief.

The Asian Football Confederation also vowed to support Infantino.

"FIFA is in its best position ever and we offer our continued and full support to (Infantino) as a candidate for FIFA President for the term 2027-2031, just as the AFC and Asian football has always supported him since his election in 2016," AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement.

The African and Asian confederations account for 101 votes in FIFA's presidential election out of a total of 211.

Infantino has already secured support for re-election from South American football's ruling body CONMEBOL, which is worth a further 10 votes.

Infantino took over as head of FIFA in 2016 in the wake of the corruption scandal that led to the downfall of predecessor Sepp Blatter.

He was re-elected in 2019 and 2023.

Although FIFA statues limit FIFA presidents to three terms in office, Infantino is allowed to run for re-election next year after the body ruled that his partial first term from 2016-2019, following Blatter's ouster did not count towards the total.

Infantino has faced controversy during his reign over his close ties to US President Donald Trump, who was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during last year's World Cup draw.

That led to a formal complaint being lodged with FIFA's ethics committee by advocacy group FairSquare last year, who alleged that the award breached FIFA's rules concerning political neutrality.