Eto’o urges CAF leaders to back embattled FIFA boss Infantino
By Joel Masibo, September 3, 2026Samuel Eto’o has called on African football associations to stand behind FIFA president Gianni Infantino, arguing that the Swiss-Italian administrator has played a major role in improving football across the continent.
The president of the Cameroon Football Federation believes Infantino’s leadership has helped African nations develop their football structures and increased their chances of appearing at the World Cup.
“President Gianni Infantino has changed football,” Eto’o said in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe.
The former Cameroon international went further in defending Infantino, saying African federations should acknowledge the opportunities that have emerged under his administration.
“Mr Infantino has helped our continent. He has helped our federations develop much more quickly, and we have to recognise that. We should support him for everything he has achieved so far.”
Eto’o’s position comes at a time when relations between FIFA and UEFA have become increasingly strained. European football’s governing body has challenged several aspects of Infantino’s leadership, creating a noticeable divide between the priorities of African and European football authorities.
According to Eto’o, one of Infantino’s biggest contributions has been widening access to football’s biggest international stage.
“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 said.
Infantino is expected to seek another term as FIFA president when the organisation holds its Congress on March 18, 2027.
Africa’s increased representation at the 2026 World Cup is one example of the changes under Infantino’s tenure. The continent had nine automatic qualification places for the expanded 48-team tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, compared with five slots at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Eto’o highlights financial gap
Eto’o also pointed to the huge financial differences between African football associations and their counterparts in richer football markets.
He argued that African federations often have to operate with significantly smaller budgets and, in many cases, depend on financial support from their governments.
“When you see some federations with budgets of 150,000 euros, how can they compete against the big countries?” he said. “We will never be able to have the same perception of things as the big countries.”
The former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea striker also linked Africa’s limited financial resources to the continent’s difficulty in retaining promising players.
He suggested that stronger investment in Cameroon could have allowed the country to develop and keep players with the quality of France internationals Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni, both of whom have Cameroonian family connections.
“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 [Kylian] Mbappe and [Aurelien] Tchouameni,” he said.
UEFA dispute
The disagreement between FIFA and UEFA intensified after European football officials opposed a now-abandoned proposal involving the commercial rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup.
The plan would have transferred those rights to a new FIFA subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, with external investors taking an ownership stake.
Although FIFA subsequently withdrew the proposal permanently, UEFA has continued to question how the matter was handled. The European body has also sought access to documents through a United States court as it considers a possible criminal complaint in Switzerland involving Infantino and other FIFA officials and advisers.
UEFA has additionally said it wants to work with football stakeholders on a different approach to distributing funding through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
Despite the dispute, Eto’o maintained that UEFA’s influence should not overshadow the interests and needs of other football confederations.
“UEFA is an important confederation for FIFA. It contributes enormously to football, but it should not be considered the only or the most important confederation,” he added.