"All of this has happened because there's an election coming up. That's all there is." Samuel Eto'o isn't mincing words about the campaign to oust Gianni Infantino — and he's backing the FIFA president to survive it.
Eto'o, now president of the Cameroon football federation, made his position clear in a CNN interview this week. Infantino faces a growing revolt after floating — then abandoning — a proposal to sell a 20% stake in a commercial body controlling FIFA tournament rights. Several member associations have since pulled their support for his 2027 re-election bid, and UEFA, AFC, and CONCACAF are all reportedly weighing a formal vote of no confidence.
Africa is staying loyal
CAF isn't moving. African football body president Patrice Motsepe said earlier this month that Infantino retains CAF's full support, and that his future should be settled at the ballot box in March 2027 — not through a no-confidence motion engineered by rival confederations.
Eto'o echoes that line. In his view, Infantino's commercial proposal was a legitimate idea that deserved proper debate among FIFA's 211 members, not a coordinated pile-on from bodies with their own electoral interests. "I am convinced that the voices that were raised — those are not the voices of the majority," he said.
Whether that's accurate is genuinely unclear. The fact that UEFA, AFC, and CONCACAF are aligned against Infantino represents a significant bloc of the global game. But CAF's loyalty — covering 54 member associations — matters enormously in any FIFA vote, and Eto'o's public intervention reinforces that Africa isn't breaking ranks.
What this means going forward
The no-confidence route requires substantial procedural backing to actually happen. Right now, Infantino's opponents appear to have numbers, but not unanimity — and without CAF, the math gets harder. Infantino battered by a close vote is a weakened FIFA president. Infantino surviving with African support intact is a different story entirely.
For all the noise, this fight won't be settled by press conferences. March 2027 is still 18 months away. A lot can shift — but for now, Eto'o and CAF have drawn their line.
