October 12 – In a boost to Gianni Infantino, South American governing body Conmebol has said they will back the FIFA president unanimously for re-election at next year’s FIFA Congress in Kigali.
“After a conversation about the current reality and the future scenario for South American and global football, the associated members to CONMEBOL gave their unanimous support to Infantino,” said Conmebol said in a statement Tuesday.
Infantino met with Conmebol officials in Asuncion and the South American governing body’s decision all but confirms (assuming all member association follow the confederation mandate) that the incumbent FIFA boss will be re-elected for another four-year term in 2023 at the FIFA Congress in Rwanda.
At present, no candidate has come forward to challenge the Swiss-Italian. European governing body UEFA looking to have been the most likely to find a rival but none has been forthcoming.
Earlier this year Infantino received the backing of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). With a block of 54 votes, CAF is always seen as a key confederation to win a FIFA presidential election. At first, the FA of South Sudan and COSAFA had declared their support while Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick was canvassing support in Western Africa before CAF then unanimously backed Infantino.
Conmebol’s backing comes at a delicate time in the bidding race for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
While the South American governing body sought closer ties with UEFA in opposition to FIFA’s proposal for a biennial World Cup, the two confederations are competing for the hosting rights to the 2030 global finals with South America proposing a four-country bid and Spain and Portugal bidding together with Ukraine. Saudi Arabia is also mulling over a bid with Egypt and Greece.
In 2016, Infantino, then employed as UEFA’s general secretary, was elected FIFA president at the organisation’s extraordinary congress. He was re-elected unopposed in 2019 in Paris. He has repeatedly claimed that FIFA has been cleaned up since the FBI raids and indictments of 2015, and is no longer a toxic organisation.
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