{"id":47077,"date":"2026-10-02T12:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=47077"},"modified":"2026-10-02T12:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:12:22","slug":"union-of-arab-football-associations-backs-infantinos-re-election-bid","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/union-of-arab-football-associations-backs-infantinos-re-election-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Union of Arab Football Associations backs Infantino\u2019s re-election bid"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">The Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) expressed its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino after a board meeting in Jeddah on Thursday.<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>Six heads of Arab associations, including Qatar and 2030 World Cup co-hosts Morocco, had previously announced their backing for Infantino in August.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Infantino, who is seeking re-election in March, has faced growing opposition since his bid in July to sell a stake in FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, which he was forced to abandon.<\/div>\n<div>In a statement issued after its 81st board meeting, UAFA, which represents 22 Arab associations, welcomed FIFA\u2019s recent efforts to strengthen cooperation with national, regional and continental football bodies.<\/div>\n<div>It also offered its support for Infantino, saying the Swiss had \u201cstrengthened unity across the global football community\u201d.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The statement comes after the Gulf Football Federation, which represents eight national associations, also publicly backed Infantino on Tuesday.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>On Wednesday, the Swiss Football Association became the latest FA to withdraw its support for Infantino\u2019s re-election bid.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>European football\u2019s governing body UEFA has pledged to present a rival candidate before the November deadline.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Last week, Infantino wrote to FIFA\u2019s 211 member associations proposing an independent review of the governing body\u2019s decision-making processes.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15353,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-47077","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"European football\u2019s governing body UEFA has pledged to present a rival candidate before the November deadline.","published_date":"","news_description":"European football\u2019s governing body UEFA has pledged to present a rival candidate before the November deadline.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47078,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47077\/revisions\/47078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}