Cameroon Football Federation President Samuel Eto'o has called on African football leaders to support FIFA President Gianni Infantino, praising the head of world football's governing body for spurring development across the continent's federations and helping more nations secure World Cup berths.
“President Gianni Infantino has changed football,” Eto'o said in an interview with France's L'Equipe. “Mr. Infantino has helped our continent. He has helped our federations grow much faster, and we must acknowledge that. We should support him for everything he has achieved so far.”
Eto'o's remarks contrast with UEFA's increasingly confrontational stance toward the FIFA president, highlighting differing priorities between African and European football leaders.
“He has given opportunities to countries that never had a chance to take part in the greatest of all tournaments, the World Cup,” the former Cameroon striker added.
Infantino has announced he will stand for re-election at the FIFA Congress on March 18, 2027. Africa holds nine direct spots at the expanded 48-team World Cup taking place this summer in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, compared with five slots at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
UEFA opposed a proposal to transfer commercial rights related to the men's and women's World Cups and the Club World Cup to a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would have involved outside investors — a plan that was later scrapped. While FIFA says the project was permanently withdrawn, European football's governing body continues to question how the plan was handled and has sought permission from a U.S. court to gather evidence for a potential criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino and other FIFA officials and advisers.
UEFA has also said it will work with partners and stakeholders to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
However, Eto'o argued that African federations cannot be expected to view FIFA's policies in the same way as wealthier football nations, given their heavy reliance on government funding.
“When you see some federations with budgets of 150,000 euros, how can they compete with the big countries?” he said. “We will never be able to see things the same way as the big countries.”
Eto'o added that a lack of resources also causes African nations to lose potential talent to Europe.
“If in Cameroon we had the ability to rely on a budget of $20 million or $40 million per year, of course we would have players like [Kylian] Mbappe and [Aurelien] Tchouameni,” he said, referring to the two France internationals with Cameroonian family roots.
“UEFA is an important confederation for FIFA. They contribute a great deal to football, but they should not be seen as the only or the most important one,” he added.
