Cameroon Football Federation president Samuel Eto’o has formally urged African football leaders to maintain their support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Eto’o credits the FIFA chief with accelerating the development of the continent’s associations and providing smaller nations with unprecedented access to the sport’s most prestigious tournament.
Endorsement of FIFA Leadership
“President Gianni Infantino has changed football,” Eto’o said in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe. “Mr Infantino has helped our continent. He has helped our federations develop much more quickly, and we have to recognise that. We should support him for everything he has achieved so far.” The former Cameroon forward added, “He has given opportunities to nations that had never had the chance to take part in the greatest tournament of all, the World Cup.”
World Cup Expansion and Re-election
Infantino has confirmed he will seek re-election at the upcoming FIFA Congress scheduled for March 18, 2027. His tenure has seen significant structural changes, most notably the expansion of the World Cup. Africa secured nine direct places at the expanded 48-team tournament held this summer in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, a notable increase from the five slots allocated for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Tensions with UEFA
Eto’o’s vocal support contrasts sharply with the increasingly confrontational stance taken by UEFA. European football’s governing body previously opposed a proposal to transfer commercial rights for major tournaments to a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). While FIFA has declared the project permanently withdrawn, UEFA continues to challenge the handling of the plan, having sought permission from a US court to obtain evidence for a potential criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino and his advisers. UEFA has stated it will instead focus on distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
Financial Disparities and Talent Drain
Eto’o argued that African federations cannot be expected to view FIFA policy through the same lens as wealthier European nations, noting that many African bodies rely heavily on limited government funding. “When you see some federations with budgets of 150,000 euros, how can they compete against the big countries?” he said. “We will never be able to have the same perception of things as the big countries.”
- The lack of financial resources directly impacts the ability of African nations to retain top-tier talent.
- Eto’o highlighted that limited funding leads to the loss of players who ultimately represent European nations.
- “If we in Cameroon had the possibility of relying on a budget of $20m or $40m per year, of course we would have had players like [Kylian] Mbappe and [Aurelien] Tchouameni,” he said, citing the France internationals who possess Cameroonian family ties.
- Eto’o concluded by noting that while UEFA is a vital confederation, it should not be viewed as the sole or most important entity within the global football structure.
