{"id":926081,"date":"2026-08-10T04:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/fifa-has-nigeria-announced-its-support-for-infantino\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T04:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:16:17","slug":"fifa-has-nigeria-announced-its-support-for-infantino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/fifa-has-nigeria-announced-its-support-for-infantino\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA: Has Nigeria announced its support for Infantino?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>FIFA president Gianni Infantino has continued to face backlash over his proposed attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/\"><u>Soccernet.ng<\/u><\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Swiss administrator has been president since 2016 and has been at the helm of world football\u00a0since then,\u00a0overseeing several major tournaments during his time in office.<\/p>\n<p>However, Infantino has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, particularly following the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where he faced backlash over a major decision involving the rescinding of a red card shown to USMNT star Folarin Balogun.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump was also heavily involved in the situation, adding to the criticism surrounding Infantino and the world football governing body.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"731\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/11fypwjSzDj0mK3I-1XJ1xI9Mm0=\/1024x731\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2025%2F10%2Fimago1040660445.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Nigeria's Olorunleke Ojo shaking FIFA President Gianni Infantino\"  ><figcaption>Nigeria&#8217;s Olorunleke Ojo shaking FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Copyright: ImagoxTaofeekxIbrahim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The FIFA president faced further scrutiny after the tournament following his attempt to push forward plans to create a commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would allow private investors to buy stakes in the commercial rights to the World Cup and other FIFA sporting events.<\/p>\n<p>The controversial plan has since been scrapped, but Infantino has continued to face widespread criticism, with calls for him to resign or be removed from office.<\/p>\n<h2>Soccer Infantino: Where does Nigeria stand on FIFA president\u2019s future?<\/h2>\n<p>Several countries\u00a0and football associations\u00a0have started taking a position on the growing controversy surrounding Infantino, with some publicly supporting the FIFA president while others have called for changes at the top of the organisation.<\/p>\n<p>While UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF have taken a position against Infantino, with UEFA even threatening to boycott FIFA events, CAF and CONMEBOL have shown stronger support for the Swiss administrator.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2026\/08\/nff-infantino-fifa.html\"><u>Soccernet.ng previously reported that the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) debunked claims<\/u><\/a>\u00a0that it had publicly called for Infantino to step down as FIFA president.\u00a0They\u00a0made it clear that it had never asked Infantino to resign, describing such reports as false.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/KRoVzcLlx9siEuxwih_JmX0x390=\/1024x683\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2025%2F10%2Fimago1063359415-1.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer NFF President Ibrahim Gusau\"  ><figcaption>NFF President Ibrahim Gusau. Copyright: Imago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, the federation has also not publicly announced its support for Infantino\u00a0and\u00a0has so far maintained a neutral position on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>That stance appears to have been reinforced by a recent report from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DbybnuMDESB\/?igsh=MXhibGl6YjU5MTVtMw==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Football Tweet<\/u><\/a>, which listed football associations that have publicly announced their support for Infantino.<\/p>\n<p>Argentina, Morocco, Qatar, DR Congo, Mexico, Djibouti, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Kuwait, Niger, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Lebanon, Bhutan, Mongolia and the Philippines were among the countries listed as having publicly backed the FIFA president.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria, however, was not included on the list, revealing that the NFF has yet to officially announce a decision on whether it supports Infantino as he faces increasing pressure ahead of the next FIFA presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are\u00a0indications that Nigeria could eventually lean towards supporting the Swiss administrator.\u00a0The NFF&#8217;s decision to distance itself from reports that it wants Infantino to resign could be seen as a sign that the federation is not against him.<\/p>\n<p>There is also the position of CAF to consider, with the African football governing body expected to remain supportive of Infantino\u00a0and\u00a0Nigeria&#8217;s relationship with CAF could therefore have an influence on how the country eventually approaches the situation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2026\/07\/fifas-plan-world-cup-nff-pinnick-nigeria.html\"><u>Former NFF president Amaju Pinnick<\/u><\/a>, who remains an influential figure within African and global football, is also closely involved in FIFA matters and could potentially play a role as the situation develops.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/mPz-UpQnWZMg19PNxxvrlt8GJmg=\/800x480\/smart\/filters:format(webp)\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2025%2F04%2FGl1ryrIWQAAOjb9.jpeg\" alt=\"Soccer Ex-NFF President Amaju Pinnick\"  ><figcaption>Ex-NFF President Amaju Pinnick. Photo Credit: Pinnick \/X <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For now, however, there is no official confirmation that Nigeria has declared its support for Infantino.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The next FIFA presidential election is scheduled to take place in March 2027, with Infantino already indicating that he intends to run for another term.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2026\/08\/fifa-nigeria-infantino.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer FIFA president Gianni Infantino has continued to face backlash over his proposed attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors,\u00a0Soccernet.ng\u00a0reports. The Swiss administrator has been president since 2016 and has been at the helm of world football\u00a0since then,\u00a0overseeing several major tournaments during his time in office. However, Infantino has come under [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":926082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1986,27096,2005],"tags":[8936,15956],"class_list":["post-926081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-announced","category-nigeria","category-soccer","tag-announced","tag-nigeria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}