ETO’O BACKS INFANTINO AS AFRICA BECOMES CRUCIAL TO FIFA’S POWER STRUGGLE

By ASVG Media

Cameroon Football Federation President Samuel Eto’o has publicly backed FIFA President Gianni Infantino as pressure mounts on the embattled FIFA leader ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Reuters reports that Eto’o dismissed much of the opposition as election-driven politics, while CAF continues to support Infantino despite growing resistance from UEFA, the AFC, CONCACAF and several national associations over the abandoned plan to sell a 20% stake in FIFA’s tournament-rights commercial entity to private investors.

Commercially, Africa matters because its 54 FIFA member associations represent one of the largest voting blocs in world football and many rely heavily on FIFA development funding. The abandoned investment plan would have created significant new capital for member associations, so African federations are effectively being asked to weigh governance concerns against the promise of greater infrastructure and development finance. That makes this more than a political dispute: it is a battle over who controls football’s commercial assets and how those revenues are distributed globally.