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

Published On 3 Sep 20263 Sep 2026.

Key points

• According to Infantino, he would seek re-election at the FIFA Congress on March 18, 2027.
• "When you see some federations with budgets of 150, 000 euros, how can they compete against the big countries?" he remarked.
• "President Gianni Infantino has changed football, " Eto'o remarked in an interview with French sports newspaper L'Equipe.
• His comments contrast with UEFA's increasingly confrontational position towards the FIFA president, underlining the differing priorities of African and European football leaders.
• Eto'o continued that the shortage of resources additionally contributed to African countries losing potential talent to Europe.

Cameroon Football Federation president Samuel Eto'o has pressed African football chiefs to backing Gianni Infantino, crediting the FIFA president with accelerating the development of the continent's associations and allowing more countries to reach the World Cup.

"Mr Infantino has supported our continent. He has supported our federations develop much more swiftly, and we have to recognise that. We should backing him for everything he has achieved so far."

"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 continued.

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 resisted 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While FIFA remarked the project had been permanently withdrawn, European football's governing body has continued to challenge its handling of the plan and has sought permission from a US court to obtain evidence for a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 office-holders and advisers.

UEFA additionally stated it would work with partners and stakeholders to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.

As they additionally relied heavily on administration funding, eto'o, nevertheless, considered that African federations could not be anticipated to view FIFA policy in the same way as wealthier football nations.

"When you see some federations with budgets of 150, 000 euros, how can they compete against the big countries?" he remarked. "We will never be able to have the same perception of things as the big countries."

"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 Mbappe and Tchouameni, " he remarked, referring to the France internationals. This person have Cameroonian family ties.

"UEFA is an significant confederation for FIFA. It contributes enormously to football, but it should not be considered the only or the most significant confederation, " he went on.

For now, eto'o calls on African football federations to support FIFA chief Infantino remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.