The Asian Football Confederation has endorsed Gianni Infantino for another term as FIFA president, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa announced on Friday in Tokyo. If elected, it would be Infantino's fourth term leading world soccer's governing body.
The AFC has 47 member confederations, and even if not all of them follow Sheikh Salman's lead, their votes could prove key to securing Infantino another mandate. The endorsement was delivered at the AFC's extraordinary congress meeting.
"We affirm our full commitment to supporting you and your leadership as you seek a new mandate as the FIFA president," Sheikh Salman said, addressing Infantino in front of the membership. "You've visited a lot of countries in Asia. I've spoken to a lot of members within this continent. I know your feeling and I think your commitment is clear as well."
The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March, with the deadline for rival candidates to file set for Nov. 18. So far, no one has filed to challenge Infantino.
Earlier this month, Sheikh Salman had been an early critic of Infantino's now-scrapped $4.2 billion World Cup sell-off plan, with reports suggesting he may have softened that opposition following Infantino's apology to FIFA's ruling council over how the plan was assembled.
