Gianni Infantino, UEFA secretary-general and FIFA presidential candidate, says he is not bothered by Friday’s endorsement of Sheikh Salman Ibn Ebrahim al-Khalifa by the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
CAF is the biggest voting bloc in FIFA, boasting of 54 of out 209 member associations.
It was also a strong ally of Sepp Blater, who resigned as FIFA president in 2015 in a gale of scandals.
But the man believed to be the European choice for the job told TheCable in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday that African national associations will vote individually and he has the support of “a lot” of them.
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“It is the CAF executive committee who has decided [to support al-Khalifa]. It is not the African national associations. I have received a lot of support, public support from individual associations from all over the world,” he said.
“With the discussion I am having with the African associations – and I am sure that with the ideas, my programmes – I can certainly convince more, in addition to those that have already promised to back me. So, it is the decision of the national associations at the end of the day and not the executive committee.”
Infantino said his personal relationship with the African federations will count when it comes to voting on February 26 via a secret ballot.
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“Of course, I am very optimistic because I speak with the people. I go to see them. I go to speak with them individually and the executive committee of CAF even said that it is free of course to go with who they want,” he said.
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