AFC chief backs Infantino’s 2027 FIFA bid after proposal dispute

Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa pledged the confederation’s support for Gianni Infantino to continue as FIFA president at an AFC Extraordinary Congress in Tokyo on Oct. 23, 2026. The public endorsement followed months of disagreement over a FIFA proposal that AFC leaders had criticized and FIFA later withdrew.

Salman acknowledged past disagreements with Infantino and said discussions had led to an understanding. The pledge is a public show of support from the AFC president, not an election result or a count of member-association votes.

What the AFC pledge represents i

The AFC has 47 member associations, FIFA says, and 46 of them are also FIFA member associations. Those figures put the endorsement in context, but do not mean 46 votes have been secured. The pledge does not establish that every AFC member association supports Infantino; the Associated Press reported Salman expected support from most members, not necessarily all.

That distinction matters for readers trying to gauge the political weight of the announcement: it establishes the AFC president’s stated position, but not how individual associations will decide. The endorsement is for Infantino’s 2027 re-election bid, not a confirmation that he has won another term.

From criticism to withdrawal i

In August, Salman joined leaders of UEFA and Concacaf in criticizing FIFA Forward Enterprise. The leaders characterized the proposal as a breach of trust. On Oct. 15, FIFA said it had withdrawn Forward Enterprise and that the proposal would not return in any form. Infantino apologized for mistakes in how it had been conducted and communicated. FIFA said a working group would examine FIFA’s governance framework.

FIFA also described a separate proposed development-investment plan for 2027–2030: $6.35 billion across member associations, confederations and other stakeholders, including a proposed $25 million allocation per member association. That plan is not a finalized payment schedule. FIFA said its terms required further work and approval by the FIFA Council and Congress.

The distinction between the withdrawn proposal and the separate investment plan is important: FIFA described the latter as a proposal still needing approval, not as funding already committed or disbursed. The sequence is that AFC leaders criticized Forward Enterprise, FIFA withdrew it, and Salman then publicly backed Infantino. The events mark a shift in the AFC leadership’s public posture, but do not by themselves settle how the confederation’s members will vote.