Infantino lauds Zimbabwe football chief in birthday bash
HARARE: FIFA president Gianni Infantino met Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe a day after he attended a birthday party for the country’s football chief, an official said.
Zimbabwe Football Association spokesman Xolisani Gwesela confirmed that Infantino had paid a courtesy call on Mugabe at State House but gave no details.
The 46-year-old Swiss-Italian jetted into Harare from Johannesburg on Thursday to attend the birthday party of Zimbabwe football chief Philip Chiyangwa.
“It’s really a pleasure to be here, I feel at home, away from home,” Infantino, who was the guest of honour at the birthday, said in a speech in which he referred to
My presence here is to celebrate a man whose love for the beautiful game I do not doubt. Gianni Infantino
Chiyangwa as “my dear friend and brother”.
“My presence here is to celebrate a man whose love for the beautiful game I do not doubt,” he said, adding he first met Chiyangwa on a bus in South Africa in the run up to the FIFA presidential election.
There they discussed football, “our love for the game and desire to see it develop in Africa and across the world”.
Gwesela said 12 football association presidents from across Africa, politicians and other high-profile personalities attended the party at a five-star hotel where Chiyangwa wore a light pink suit and pink shoes.
The party was to jointly celebrate Chiyangwa’s 58th birthday and his election as Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) president.
Chiyangwa, recently elected head of Cosafa, has come under fire over his birthday celebrations.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou has condemned the Zimbabwean for inviting to the party various non-Cosafa African officials.
Chiyangwa is the campaign manager for Ahmad, a former Malagasy government minister who is challenging Hayatou on March 16 for the CAF presidency.
Hayatou, who has ruled CAF for 29 years, reportedly believed the party was a front and the real purpose was to rally support for Ahmad.
The Cameroonian, who is seeking an eighth four-year term as head of the Cairo-based organisation, has been challenged for the post only twice.
CAF did not support Infantino in the 2016 FIFA elections, publicly backing Bahraini Sheikh Salman Ibrahim Al Khalifa instead. — AFP