Infantino rubbishes Caf claims
ACCRA — Fifa president Gianni Infantino was in Ghana on Monday and rubbished claims that he is galvanising support against Issa Hayatou. The world football governing body head was in the west African nation as part of African tour which has also seen him make stops in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda. However, the undercurrents of his visits have followed him wherever he has been.
In Zimbabwe, the Swiss lawyer’s presence at the birthday bash of Philip Chiyangwa raised eyebrows on the continetal football politics front.
Chiyangwa, the colourful Zimbabwean businessman who also used the party to celebrate his ascension to the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) throne, controversially included a gathering of several other football heads seen not to be loyal to Issa Hayatou.
Hayatou, who stands in a Caf presidency election for the eighth time in March, is being contested by the Madagascar FA president, Ahmad Ahmad. Chiyangwa, it turns out, is the campaign manager of this endeavour.
And that’s why Infantino’s African tour is being interpreted in some quarters as a tacit endorsement of the anti-Hayatou group.
“I am going to every association that invites me and to those that didn’t invite me because I am the president of 211 in the world including 54 in Africa,” Infantino said, while in Ghana.
“It is not up to the Fifa president to decide anything when it comes to (what is going to) happen in the Caf congress and presidency. There are delegates entitled to vote and make up their minds and to vote freely according to what they want. The federations and their presidents are big enough to take their own decisions.”
Caf have already suggested that the Fifa president is part of an elaborate scheme to destabilise the incumbent administration, especially as Infantino is not a known ally of Hayatou, who has been in power since 1988.
In Abuja, the head of Nigerian football’s governing body is at loggerheads with his executive committee after he endorsed Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad to be president of the Confederation of African Football.
The Nigerian Football Federation said it had called a meeting scheduled for yesterday to distance itself from Amaju Pinnick’s position and instead throw its weight behind the incumbent Hayatou.
Caf member countries vote for the new president in Addis Ababa on March 16. Ahmad is challenging Hayatou, who has been Caf boss since 1988.
One senior Nigerian official, who asked not to be identified, said the meeting in the capital, Abuja, was likely to be stormy after Pinnick made his preference known.
“He (Pinnick) has clearly upset the Nigerian football establishment and he will be told that in no uncertain terms at this meeting,” the official added.
Nigeria’s sports minister Solomon Dalung has already said Pinnick’s position was not that of the NFF, as have senior Nigerian football officials already holding Caf portfolios.
Amos Adamu, Dominic Oneya, Sani Lulu and Aminu Maigari — who have all been NFF president — at the weekend gave their backing to Hayatou in a public statement.
Pinnick as an individual could support anyone he wanted, they said, but added there was “no evidence where Mr Pinnick was mandated to commit this country to supporting Mr Ahmad”.
“No Nigerian member of Caf has been consulted nor informed out of courtesy about the ambitions of the NFF President,” they added.
“We do not remember Mr Ahmad visiting Nigeria to solicit or canvass for votes nor do we have any record of Mr Ahmad’s pedigree in the running of football in Africa that would have led Mr Pinnick to dangerously throw all of Nigeria’s eggs in his basket. “We stand dangerously threatened.” The Nigerian Caf officials instead said there was every reason to continue to support Hayatou, calling him “a pillar of support” and a “true friend of Nigerian football”. Meanwhile, Infantino says Africa will get more than seven slots in the expanded edition of the World Cup from 2026.
Speaking on his one-day official visit to Ghana, the Swiss lawyer made the announcement to applause in the capital, Accra. Africa currently has five slots in the World Cup. But with the impending expansion of the tournament in the next decade, the continent has been pining for more places.“African representation will definitely be more than seven. Now the precise number we are still working it out,” Infantino said on Monday.
Having also visited South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda on his African tour, Infantino told the gathering in the west African nation that Fifa had increased its investment in the continent’s football from $27m to $94m a year to help develop the sport.
He also said the world football federation had increased Africa’s membership of the federation’s council from four to seven representatives. The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, also welcomed the Fifa boss and executives of the Ghana Football Association to discuss developmental issues. — AFP.