The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has congratulated Gianni Infantino on his outstanding 10-year leadership as President of FIFA.
CAF says a decade of leadership at the helm of world football’s governing body sets the tone for a broader reflection from the African continent’s football authority on its relationship with FIFA during this period.
A Thursday release on the CAF website, titled, “CAF congratulates Gianni Infantino on his outstanding 10-year leadership as FIFA President,” disclosed this.
The President of CAF, Patrice Motsepe said. “CAF congratulates Gianni Infantino on the excellent leadership that he has provided as FIFA President over the past 10 years and for his enormous contribution to the development and growth of football throughout the world.”
The remarks then shift to emphasise the global dimension of that contribution, underscoring the impact beyond a single confederation or region.
“African Football and world football have a loyal and trustworthy friend and partner in Gianni Infantino.
“CAF wishes him good health and everything of the best,” he concluded.
He was re-elected in June 2019 by acclamation for a second term as FIFA president at the Congress of world football’s governing body in Paris.
Infantino, who took charge of FIFA in February 2016 after the departure of the disgraced Sepp Blatter, stood unopposed for a new four-year term which will run until 2023.
Infantino won the presidency of FIFA with a convincing win over Asian rival Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and vowed to lead the scandal tainted body into a new era.
The Swiss-Italian general secretary of UEFA got 115 votes in the second round of the election held at the FIFA Congress while the Asian Football Confederation president got 88.
Infantino takes over the then-209-member, multi-billion dollar body from Sepp Blatter with world football’s image at an all-time low.
Sheikh Salman, a member of the Bahrain royal family, was one of the first to congratulate his rival.
Having got 27 votes in the first round of the election, Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan got just four in the second.
Former FIFA official Jerome Champagne had seven votes in the first round but zero in the deciding ballot.
South African tycoon Tokyo Sexwale withdrew from the contest before the first round.
The PUNCH