Mexico and Argentina give backing to under-fire FIFA president Gianni Infantino

Mexico and Argentina have expressed their support for beleaguered FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Pic: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.

Mexico and Argentina have expressed their support for beleaguered FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The Swiss has been under pressure after three continents rejected his plan to seek private investment in a company which would run FIFA’s competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups.

He and FIFA apologised to national associations this week over how the plan was developed, but the members of FIFA’s management board present at a meeting in Morocco on Wednesday said Infantino had their “full support” to continue.

Mexico’s football federation (FMF) has given its backing to Infantino, saying it joined his call to “collectively continue developing football for the benefit of all 211 member associations”.

The FMF said it “supports the leadership of President Infantino in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening”.

Mexico’s support comes after its continental confederation, CONCACAF, issued a rebuke of Infantino last Saturday, accusing him of a “unilateral and egregious act of poor governance” in relation to the private investor plan, and calling for a full review of his leadership.

Argentina’s football association, the AFA, thanked Infantino for his 10 years’ service and for the transformation of FIFA he had brought about, which it said had been achieved through a “transparent governance model”.

Argentina is part of the South American confederation CONMEBOL, which is lobbying FIFA to expand the 2030 finals to 64 teams.

CONMEBOL said on Thursday it would not support any move to oust Infantino on an accelerated timetable, while the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) expressed its “unanimous support” for Infantino on Thursday.

He remains under extreme pressure however, with European football’s governing body UEFA insisting it still intends to boycott FIFA competitions, having declared last week it had “lost confidence” in Infantino.

World players’ union FIFPro has accused Infantino of a “profound abuse of presidential power” and demanded governance reforms, including a seat on the FIFA Council for a players’ representative and involvement in the review FIFA has promised into the handling of the private investor plan.

Members of the FIFA Council, angered by Infantino’s failure to consult them over the plan and the handling of the Folarin Balogun case, are also understood to be working to gather the 19-strong majority needed to request Infantino to call a meeting where he can be held to account.

If they cannot reach a majority, or he refuses the request for a meeting, members plan to stage a ‘governance boycott’ by ceasing to attend meetings, with the aim of paralysing FIFA operations.

On Friday morning LaLiga president Javier Tebas said the way associations, FIFA Council and even top FIFA executives had been kept in the dark about the private investor plan amounted to a “grave breakdown of institutional governance”.

Tebas said the plan was not even the biggest scandal of the summer, however, pointing instead to FIFA’s handling of the Balogun case.

The United States striker’s one-match ban for a red card in the last 32 was suspended by FIFA’s disciplinary committee, allowing him to face Belgium in the last 16.

US President Donald Trump said he had personally lobbied Infantino to “review” the sanction, though the Swiss insisted the disciplinary committee had acted independently. The committee has so far offered no explanation for why the sanction was suspended.

Tebas described the Balogun case as “an intolerable political interference in football’s disciplinary independence, on which Infantino ended up offering utterly implausible explanations”.

The English and Welsh FAs are among a number of European federations who have formally withdrawn their support for Infantino’s candidacy for re-election at next year’s FIFA Congress in Morocco.