CAF support for Infantino is no guarantee of African votes at FIFA election

CAPE TOWN, Aug 13 : African football associations have largely kept their counsel amid the storm over the future of beleaguered FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who is banking on their support to keep his job.

But while the Confederation of African Football has issued a statement backing him, putting CAF at odds with three other continental governing bodies that want Infantino to account for his now abandoned plan to carve off World Cup commercial rights, there is no guarantee African countries will toe the line.

While Swiss-Italian Infantino is popular with African associations as he has substantially increased their FIFA grants over his decade in office, he cannot be guaranteed a block vote from the 54 CAF members when he faces re-election on March 17 at the FIFA Congress in Morocco.

Africa represents a significant chunk of votes, but past endorsements from CAF have been largely ignored by members, rendering them worth little more than the paper they were written on.

CAF had an alliance with UEFA when the European governing body’s president Lennart Johansson stood for the FIFA presidency in 1998, but African member associations voted overwhelmingly to put his rival Sepp Blatter in power.

AFRICANS WITH HISTORY OF BREAKING RANKS

Four years later, when CAF president Issa Hayatou challenged Blatter, the Swiss won a second term in a landslide vote with the majority of African countries voting for him.

Infantino’s ascension to power in 2016 came despite CAF’s endorsement of rival Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa from Bahrain, with many African countries helping Infantino over the line in the second round of voting.

CAF members also broke ranks despite the organisation supporting Morocco's bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

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