Gianni Infantino’s campaign for reelection as FIFA president is set to move this week to Japan and a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with the Asian Football Confederation.
This comes after Infantino apologized last week in Zurich, Switzerland, to FIFA’s 37-member ruling council — which he chairs — for “mistakes” he made in assembling a now-scrapped $4.2 billion sell-off plan for the World Cup.
The council is the main decision-making body at FIFA with a global spread of officials.
The planned meeting with Asian soccer leaders is to be held in a five-star hotel in Tokyo with the media largely excluded.
Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the president of the AFC, expressed early opposition to Infantino and his plan to create a subsidiary to run the World Cup, but may have moved closer to Infantino, The Athletic has reported.
Infantino has offered to critics an open, independent review of how FIFA makes its decisions.
An Associated Press tally indicates Infantino is close to landing the simple majority of the 211 FIFA member federations he needs to win re-election in March to a fourth term. Some of the deciding votes could some from Asia.
– UEFA demands FIFA explain Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan, Balogun’s overturned red
– Infantino apologized, but reelection as FIFA president remains far from certain
– Gianni Infantino ‘not fit to be FIFA president’ without answers – FA chair
The AFC had joined the criticism of Infantino in the wake of the proposed World Cup sell-off, but its members appear far from united. Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, has expressed support for the FIFA leader while Jordan has declared its opposition.
The FIFA Council is scheduled to meet next on Dec. 16 in Doha, Qatar.
The Associated Press count shows 87 of the 211 FIFA Member federations have indicated support for Infantino – either in individual comments or by endorsing statements of support by their regional confederations. The largest block of opposition comes from Europe.
