The embrace from the AFC president is a sharp turn. In August, the Asian Football Confederation signed a joint statement with UEFA and CONCACAF that described Infantino’s handling of a scrapped $4.2 billion commercial plan for the World Cup as a “fundamental breach of trust”. On Friday, Sheikh Salman stood beside Infantino at the AFC’s extraordinary congress and told him Asia was behind him.
“We affirm our full commitment to supporting you and your leadership as you seek a new mandate as the FIFA president,” Sheikh Salman said.
“As one Asian family we are ready to move forward, united in your support, Gianni.”
“Yes, we had some issues we spoke about in the past, but let’s not relate the two things together.”
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From Nyon, a very different message
Three days earlier, UEFA sent FIFA a letter signed by general secretary Theodore Theodoridis, demanding written answers to 42 questions about Infantino’s governance by 2 November. The deadline falls 16 days before nominations close on 18 November for the FIFA presidential election on 18 March 2027.
The questions cover Infantino’s personal pay package, payments made to singer Marc Anthony, the handling of United States striker Folarin Balogun’s disciplinary case, FIFA’s business and political links to US President Donald Trump and his family, and the operational independence of FIFA’s judicial, electoral and ethics committees.
The core complaint concerns the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan, the $4.2 billion commercial proposal Infantino launched and then abandoned in July after a European backlash.
“The withdrawal of FFE, the recognition of mistakes, and the announcement of ‘potential governance reforms’ do not answer how the relevant decisions were taken or why the FIFA Council was not involved at the appropriate stage,” UEFA wrote.
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“These questions require answers now. They cannot be deferred until the next meeting of the FIFA Council.”
The next council meeting is scheduled for 16 December in Doha, Qatar, after nominations have closed.
211 ballots, not 47 blocs
The AFC groups 47 member associations, and Sheikh Salman’s shift matters most for its signalling value: His was one of the voices behind the August “breach of trust” line. Confederations, however, do not deliver their members’ ballots. Each of FIFA’s 211 member associations casts its own vote, and nothing is binding until the FIFA Congress votes next March.
Infantino apologised last week to FIFA’s 37-member ruling council in Zurich for “mistakes” over the scrapped plan, and he remains the only declared candidate. The nomination window closes on 18 November.
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