Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe has said Gianni Infantino’s future as FIFA president should be decided through an election, amid growing opposition to the embattled football chief.
Gatekeepers News reports that Infantino has come under mounting criticism following his controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, with several football associations withdrawing their support for his leadership.
The governing bodies of European football (UEFA), North and Central America (CONCACAF) and Asia (AFC) intensified the pressure on Infantino this week in a joint letter, declaring that “trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority”.
The organisations are reportedly seeking Infantino’s resignation before he can contest for another term at the FIFA presidential election scheduled for March next year.
However, Motsepe, who is also a FIFA vice-president, said Infantino’s fate should be determined by FIFA’s 211 member associations through the ballot box.
“If anybody has got any problem against anybody, whether it’s Gianni, whether it is anybody else, follow the process, follow the FIFA process, simple as that,” Motsepe told Sky News on Thursday.
“If you want to take him out, go for elections; let the 211 member associations decide. Do that and the vote will express whether they’ve got confidence in him or not.
“You’ve got to be very careful. There are elections taking place next year. Shouldn’t we allow that process to continue?”
Motsepe was in Salzburg on Wednesday for the UEFA Super Cup, where he held talks with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin. UEFA has threatened to boycott the World Cup and Club World Cup in protest against Infantino’s proposed investment scheme.
The CAF president said he was reluctant to pass judgement on the controversy without hearing all sides.
“I’ve heard so many stories about various issues and am careful to pass judgement on anything,” Motsepe said.
“Everybody has a right to be heard. Let’s have a hearing, and a proper forum.”
CAF has previously backed Infantino, with Motsepe maintaining that there was no breach of FIFA rules in the discussions over selling World Cup stakes because any final proposal would still have to be submitted to FIFA’s member associations for approval.
“There’s a lot that’s problematic and negative that they have to fix,” Motsepe said.
“But he has apologised and said maybe there’s a different way these things should have been done, but we also take advice.”
Despite Motsepe’s defence, opposition to Infantino continued to grow on Thursday when the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) became the latest FIFA member to withdraw its support for him.
The English Football Association and Football Association of Wales had previously withdrawn their backing for the 56-year-old Swiss.
“Following an FAI Board Meeting, the decision was taken to rescind the letter of support that the Association supplied earlier this year,” the FAI said.
“It has since written to FIFA to explain its reasoning. The Association is grateful for the support that FIFA provides to Irish football, but recent events have raised significant concerns regarding governance, transparency and the lack of meaningful consultation.”
With the FIFA presidential election approaching, Infantino now faces increasing pressure from member associations and continental football bodies, while Motsepe insists that any challenge to his leadership should be settled through the established electoral process.
