The walls appeared to be closing in on Gianni Infantino. Not everyone wants him gone

By Ben Church, Amanda Davies, CNN

(CNN) — In recent weeks, it might have felt inevitable that Gianni Infantino would be forced to resign as FIFA president.

The walls were closing in on him, and the rising tide of criticism following his failed attempt to rush through his controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal seemed overwhelming.

And yet, despite calls for him to step down still echoing around the sport, Infantino is still holding on to power with the FIFA presidential election fast approaching in March.

And while some don’t want to wait that long to have the chance of toppling Infantino, the current FIFA boss does have some support swimming in the sea of objectors.

One of those people is the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT) Samuel Eto’o, who recently told CNN Sports in an exclusive interview that Infantino hasn’t done anything wrong and actually called for the controversial plan that caused this tumultuous situation to be revisited.

Eto’o was once one of the best players in the world, scoring countless goals and winning major trophies for the likes of Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

He was elected FECAFOOT president in 2021 and has since set about growing the profile of both Cameroonian and African soccer as a whole.

“I don’t think that President Gianni Infantino has done anything wrong,” Eto’o told CNN Sports when asked about the FIFA president’s conduct regarding the FFE plan.

“I think the timing of all of that is because there’s an election coming out, when Gianni Infantino is standing. All of this has happened because there’s an election coming out, that’s all there is.”

Eto’o’s voice will come as a welcome refuge for Infantino, who has been battered from pillar to post by a host of confederations. European body UEFA has threatened to boycott future tournaments, while the North & Central American and Caribbean governing body CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) demanded a change in leadership.

The upcoming Under-20 Women’s World Cup in September could be the next flashpoint, with UEFA teams potentially not taking part. That would mean six of the qualified teams wouldn’t play, including the current host Poland.

‘Incredible’ FFE plan

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has been a rare backer of Infantino, although questions remain about which individual nations actually support its federation’s stance.

Cameroon appears to be very much in line, and Infantino even name-checked Eto’o in a ‘thank-you post’ on Instagram last week.

“President Gianni Infantino has changed football,” Eto’o added, urging fellow African nations to support the FIFA president.

“He’s given opportunities to nations that didn’t have those opportunities to take part in the most beautiful tournament, the World Cup. He enabled smaller nations to get seats at these competitions.

“He has helped our continent. He’s helped our federations to develop much more quickly, and we need to acknowledge that. We need to accept and recognize what he’s done, and we should support him for everything he’s done up to now.”

Eto’o told CNN Sports the proposed plan would have helped distribute wealth in a fairer manner, allowing smaller nations to compete with the biggest in the world by having better facilities and resources. He said it would have helped teams like Cameroon to attract the best players in the world – such as Kylian Mbappé, who was born in France but who has Cameroonian heritage through his father.

“There are federations in other continents that are in the same situation as us, that find themselves more or less at the same financial level as us to develop the football that we love so much. We want to see the (Lionel) Messis, we want to see the Mbappés, but I would like to see Mbappé play for Cameroon.”

FIFA has already apologized for some of its actions and scrapped the FFE proposal. It also backed Infantino after a crisis meeting in Morocco last month.

The narrative from FIFA now is that erroneous media reporting blew the proposed plans out of context, and that’s something echoed by Eto’o, who still thinks it was a good idea and hopes it can be debated if Infantino is reelected next year.

“The bigger nations took up the media space. They gave their point of view, and President Gianni Infantino wanted to keep the family of football together, and he decided to withdraw the project,” he said.

“I remain convinced that for us as Africans, this project was something that could have been incredible. It would have reset the balance of power in football to ensure that our talent doesn’t disappear and end up playing for other nations.

“At the end of the day, those who have talked about the project and who’ve given their opinion haven’t properly read what it’s all about, and in some cases, they looked at it from their dominant position.

He added: “I want to see all of my colleagues, all of the presidents, re-reading the project. After President Infantino is re-elected, we will have the strength to ask for this project to be put back on the table for discussion.

“I remain convinced that, if there is a democratic vote, this project will be adopted because it’s good for the majority.”

Support for Infantino

Eto’o is not the only person banging the drum for Infantino in what’s become an increasingly fractured landscape.

Support from CAF could be crucial, but there is also sympathy from other parts of the world.

South America’s CONMEBOL has praised FIFA for scrapping its controversial plan but stopped short of calling for Infantino to resign. The Argentinian FA has also thrown its full weight behind the beleaguered leader.

He also has support from Mexico (member of CONCACAF) and AFC members Qatar, Indonesia and the Philippines, showing how some national soccer associations are breaking away from the stance of their confederations.

It’s a numbers game involving which of the 211 national associations are either for or against Infantino staying on.

The election next year can’t come soon enough for some critics, although it’s not yet clear who would challenge Infantino – contenders need to come forward by the November 18 deadline.

But there might be another way to push the leader out early.

Should 20% of FIFA’s 211 member nations make a formal written request, an extraordinary congress would be called, as per FIFA’s statutes. A vote of no confidence in Infantino could then be launched, giving all members a chance to decide his fate – although CNN Sports could find no official guidelines about this potenital process.

But for now, the FIFA president remains in post. And despite countless new criticisms emerging every day, there is belief from people such as Eto’o, that the leader can somehow stay on.

The-CNN-Wire
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