The heads of the football associations of Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Mauritania, Lebanon and Sudan signed a joint statement on 13 August, the first coordinated public declaration of confidence in Infantino by a group of national associations since three confederations turned on him.

Four of the signatories sit on the FIFA Council: Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Morocco’s Fouzi Lekjaa, Egypt’s Hany Abo Rida and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya, Republic World reported. The Lebanese and Sudanese associations were represented by their presidents, Hashem Haidar and Moatasem Gafar.

“Recognising the important role of Arab football in bringing people together and strengthening cooperation among football associations across the Arab world, we … express our full support for Mr Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, and reaffirm our confidence in his leadership and continued commitment to the development of football worldwide,” the six leaders said in the statement.

The signatories also praised Infantino’s “sustained efforts to advance football globally, expand opportunities across all regions and strengthen the game’s role in bringing people and communities together.”

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Three confederations rebuked him, but each association votes on its own

Infantino has been under sustained pressure since he floated a plan to sell 20% of the commercial rights to the World Cup to private investors, a deal projected to raise about $4.2 billion. He abandoned the proposal after UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF publicly rebuked him, with UEFA warning of a possible boycott and the three bodies jointly describing the plan as a “fundamental breach of trust”.

Those three confederations together represent 136 of FIFA’s 211 member associations. A confederation cannot deliver its members’ ballots, however: FIFA operates on a one-member, one-vote basis, and each of the 211 associations decides independently how it votes in a presidential election.

First joint statement from national associations

Infantino is due to stand for re-election in March 2027. If only one challenger appears on the ballot, a simple majority of 106 votes is enough to win; if three or more candidates stand, the winner has to reach a two-thirds majority of 141.

Thursday’s statement is the first JOINT declaration from a group of national associations during this crisis, after Infantino had previously shared individual letters of support from federations including Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on his own social media. Morocco is one of the co-hosts of the 2030 World Cup, giving Lekjaa’s signature added visibility.

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The abandoned rights plan had originally been sweetened with a $20 million grant to each member association, an amount that would have doubled had the association endorsed the arrangement, according to Bluewater’s report. FIFA has since said mistakes were made in how the proposal was handled.

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