Gianni Infantino gets South American backing in FIFA crisis

FIFA president Gianni Infantino received support from several South American football figures on Friday as he visited Cali, Colombia, during a crisis over FIFA's abandoned plan to open the World Cup to private investment.

CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez told Colombian media that “one cannot ignore the great work” done by Infantino. Dominguez said football should continue through dialogue and that it was “not necessary to always agree.”

The football federations of Venezuela and Ecuador also backed Infantino on Friday, after Argentina and Paraguay had done so on Thursday. Ecuadorian federation president Francisco Egas Larreategui wrote to Infantino that he had confidence in him and in those currently leading football.

CONMEBOL, which includes Argentina and Brazil among its 10 FIFA-affiliated members, had also expressed concern on Thursday about what it called repeated unilateral actions by FIFA. The confederation and several federations welcomed FIFA's withdrawal of the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan, a proposed commercial entity open to private investors.

Infantino arrived in Cali to attend incoming Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella's inauguration. Photos released by the Colombian Football Federation showed him with Dominguez and Colombian federation president Ramon Jesurun.

Infantino declined to answer an AFP question on whether he considered FIFA's troubles to be over. Later, at a children's football festival in Cali, he said it was “a joy” to be there and described football as “joy,” “happiness” and “unity.”

UEFA maintained on Thursday its threat to boycott the World Cup despite FIFA's withdrawal of the private-investment proposal. Infantino, FIFA president since 2016, plans to seek a fourth and final term in an election in Rabat in March 2027.