Eto’o urges African federations to back FIFA’s Infantino

Cameroon Football Federation president Samuel Eto’o has urged African football chiefs to support FIFA president Gianni Infantino, crediting him with accelerating development and expanding World Cup access for the continent. Eto’o praised Infantino for helping African federations grow faster and giving more nations opportunities to compete in the World Cup, contrasting with UEFA’s confrontational stance toward the FIFA leader. Africa secured nine direct places at the expanded 48-team tournament this summer, up from five in 2022. Eto’o argued African federations, often reliant on government funding with budgets as low as 150,000 euros, cannot share the same perspective as wealthier nations. He suggested larger budgets could have retained talents like Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni, who have Cameroonian ties, for Africa.