Eto’o calls on African football federations to support FIFA chief Infantino

Samuel Eto’o says a higher budget might have attracted the likes of Mbappe and Tchouameni to play for Africa instead.Cameroon Football Federation president Samuel Eto’o has urged African football chiefs to support Gianni Infantino, crediting the FIFA president with accelerating the development of the continent’s associations and allowing more countries to reach the World Cup.“President Gianni Infantino has changed football,” Eto’o said in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Alvarez returns to Atletico training amid Barcelona, Arsenal transfer linkslist 2 of 4‘The time has come’: Messi retires from international footballlist 3 of 4Manchester City sign Brazilian winger Allan Elias from Palmeiraslist 4 of 4FIFA president Infantino ‘must go’, says former UEFA boss Platiniend of list“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.”His comments contrast with UEFA’s increasingly confrontational position towards the FIFA president, underlining the differing priorities of African and European football leaders.“He has given opportunities to nations that had never had the chance to take part in the greatest tournament of all, the World Cup,” the former Cameroon forward added.Infantino said that he would seek re-election at the FIFA Congress on March 18, 2027.Africa had nine direct places at the expanded 48-team World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States this summer, compared with five at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.UEFA opposed the now-abandoned proposal to transfer commercial rights connected to the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup to a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), with outside investors taking a stake.While FIFA said the project had been permanently withdrawn, European football’s governing body has continued to challenge its handling of the plan and has sought permission from a US court to obtain evidence for a potential criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino and other FIFA officials and advisers.