- Samuel Eto’o Backs Infantino as FIFA President Faces Revolt Over Abandoned US$4.20 Billion Deal
Cameroon Football Federation President Samuel Eto’o has thrown his support behind embattled FIFA President Gianni Infantino, dismissing calls for his resignation and arguing that the escalating controversy surrounding his leadership is being driven largely by politics ahead of next year’s FIFA presidential election.
Infantino has come under sustained pressure following the collapse of a controversial proposal to sell a 20.00% stake in a new FIFA commercial-rights entity to private investors in a transaction that could have raised about US$4.20 billion. The proposed investment group was linked to Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.
The plan triggered strong opposition from influential football bodies, including UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF, and was ultimately abandoned after FIFA concluded that the divisions created by the proposal were no longer consistent with its objectives.
But Eto’o, one of Africa’s most prominent football administrators and a former Barcelona and Cameroon striker, believes the backlash has gone too far.
“I don’t think that President Gianni Infantino has done anything wrong,” Eto’o said in an interview with CNN.
His intervention comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Infantino, who has already declared his intention to seek another term when FIFA holds its presidential election at its Congress in Rabat, Morocco, on March 18, 2027.
Eto’o argued that the timing of the criticism cannot be separated from that election.
“I think the timing of all of that is because there’s an election coming out, when Gianni Infantino is standing. All of this has happened because there’s an election coming out, that’s all there is,” he said.
The defence puts Eto’o firmly on one side of an increasingly visible divide within world football.
Infantino’s critics argue that the abandoned commercial proposal raised serious questions about governance, consultation and the extent to which FIFA’s most valuable commercial rights should be exposed to private capital.
UEFA, AFC and CONCACAF accused the FIFA president of acting without sufficient consultation and demanded stronger assurances that a similar proposal would not be revived. They have also called for greater scrutiny of how the plan was developed.
The proposal itself would have created a commercial vehicle built around FIFA tournament rights, including assets linked to its major competitions.
Supporters viewed it as a potential mechanism for unlocking billions of dollars in capital that could then be distributed through FIFA’s member associations and development programmes.
Critics saw something more fundamental at stake: whether an organisation owned collectively by 211 national football associations should allow outside investors to obtain an economic interest in commercial rights generated by competitions such as the World Cup.
That disagreement turned what might otherwise have been a financing proposal into a governance crisis.
FIFA withdrew the plan at the beginning of August after opposition intensified, but the retreat has not ended the pressure on Infantino.
Reuters reported earlier that UEFA, AFC and CONCACAF have continued to criticise his handling of the proposal, while discussions around a possible vote of no confidence have added to uncertainty surrounding his re-election campaign.
Several current and former players have also joined calls for change at FIFA, arguing that players and supporters should have a greater voice in decisions affecting the future of the game.
Eto’o, however, appears to view the episode through a different lens.
His defence reflects the continuing support Infantino retains across parts of African football, where FIFA development funding and the expansion of international competitions have strengthened his relationship with several national associations.
Reuters reported that the Confederation of African Football, led by Patrice Motsepe, continues to support Infantino and has emphasised the importance of allowing the FIFA election process to determine his future.
FIFA presidential elections are decided by its member associations, with each federation holding one vote regardless of the commercial size or footballing strength of the country it represents.
The result is a political structure in which support from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and smaller football nations can be every bit as important as backing from Europe’s wealthiest federations.
Infantino has traditionally built a substantial part of his political coalition around those associations.
His argument has been that FIFA should redistribute more of football’s global revenues to countries with fewer commercial resources and expand opportunities for nations historically excluded from the biggest competitions.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has ruled himself out of challenging Infantino but has said he expects the FIFA president to face an opponent in the March election.
The dispute therefore extends far beyond one abandoned investment proposal.
It has become a contest over the direction of FIFA itself: the commercialisation of global football, the concentration of presidential power, the influence of continental confederations and the distribution of the game’s rapidly growing revenues.
Eto’o’s intervention is significant because he is not merely a retired player defending a football administrator.
He is now president of Cameroon’s football federation and therefore part of the political constituency that will ultimately determine who governs FIFA.
His endorsement also comes as Infantino’s African support becomes increasingly valuable in the face of opposition elsewhere.
The former Cameroon captain appears unconvinced that the failed commercial proposal is sufficient reason to force the FIFA president from office.
For Eto’o, the battle is fundamentally electoral. His critics will see matters differently.
They argue that the fact the proposal was abandoned does not erase questions about how such a significant change to FIFA’s commercial model progressed as far as it did.
Infantino’s opponents will attempt to turn the collapsed deal into a broader referendum on governance.
His supporters will portray the controversy as a political campaign designed to weaken a president who remains popular among many of FIFA’s smaller and developing football nations.
Eto’o has now placed himself squarely in the latter camp. “I don’t think that President Gianni Infantino has done anything wrong,” he said.
With FIFA’s presidential vote less than seven months away, that defence underscores how the crisis has moved beyond arguments over private investment.
It is increasingly becoming a battle over who controls world football and which bloc of FIFA’s 211 member associations can assemble the votes to decide Infantino’s future.
