By Rohith Nair
Aug 6 (Reuters) - FIFA President Gianni Infantino received a lifeline on Thursday when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) unanimously backed his leadership, but the support from one of the largest voting blocs in soccer is unlikely to end scrutiny on how the sport is governed globally.
The endorsement from CAF, whose 54 member associations account for more than a quarter of FIFA's 211 members, handed Infantino a much needed boost as he seeks a fourth term in office.
However,
it does little to quell wider unrest within the global governing body, where opposition has intensified following his failed attempt to open the World Cup to private equity investment.
"We are committed to continue working together with FIFA, its member associations, other football Confederations and stakeholders to safeguard and adhere to governance, due process, and transparency," CAF President Patrice Motsepe said in a statement.
The announcement was at odds with the near-global condemnation of Infantino, as UEFA reaffirmed its commitment to boycotting the World Cup the same day, while more countries withdrew support for his candidacy.
UEFA HOLDS POSITION
A day after FIFA's leadership gathered in Rabat to publicly reaffirm support for Infantino, world soccer's governing body apologised to its 211 members for mistakes around the abandoned proposal to sell a slice of the World Cup's commercial future.
FIFA also pledged to review the processes that led to the controversy which sparked the fiercest revolt of Infantino's tenure after national federations complained they had been sidelined.
European soccer's governing body UEFA stressed that its key conditions for a return to FIFA competitions had not been met.
"First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again," UEFA said in a statement.
"These conditions have not been met. In addition, UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino's presidency. That position holds."
UEFA added that FIFA employees "whose careers depend on his favour" agreeing with Infantino did not alter its position.
UEFA did not say if teams would boycott FIFA's next event -- the women's Under-20 World Cup in Poland next month.
Reuters has contacted the Polish FA for comment.
FIFA TO REVIEW PROCESSES
A review will be conducted before a report is presented to the Council at its next meeting and the conciliatory tone marked a stark contrast with the increasingly public criticism that forced FIFA into retreat.
However, FIFA can no longer dodge questions raised by confederations, leagues and national associations over how major strategic decisions are made.
South America's CONMEBOL expressed concerns over the "repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue," stressing the importance of institutional reforms FIFA introduced more than a decade ago to promote transparency.
"CONMEBOL will not support any action or procedure that ignores or deviates from these institutional mechanisms," it said.
"The CONMEBOL Council calls for the preservation of unity within the football family, for acting with institutional responsibility, for strengthening dialogue, and for fully respecting governance mechanisms."
'PROFOUND ABUSE OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER'
Players' union FIFPRO said Infantino's proposal "negotiated behind closed doors" was not just a governance failure but a "profound abuse of presidential power".
However, FIFA insists that all actions taken over the commercial rights proposal complied with its regulations and stressed that mistakes related to process and communication rather than breaches of governance rules.
"If true, that is not a defence. It is an indictment of FIFA's current governance framework," FIFPRO said.
FIFA attempted to present a united front, warning critics that, with the project now abandoned, it would "no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process".
A New York Times report on Thursday said that top FIFA directors were blindsided by the private equity proposal a day before the World Cup final in New York last month and were pressured into approving it on little notice, underscoring the secrecy surrounding the plan.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach FIFA to comment on the Times story.
POLITICAL FALLOUT
For Infantino, the immediate priority has been containing the political fallout ahead of March's presidential election in Morocco, when he will seek a fourth term through 2031.
Wednesday's meeting delivered that objective, with FIFA's management board and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom publicly endorsing the president.
But Jordan's FA President Prince Ali bin Hussein said he would not endorse Infantino despite finally receiving prize money outstanding for their participation in the 2025 Arab Cup.
England also officially withdrew its support for Infantino, an FA spokesperson told Reuters, as did the Albanian FA.
Infantino continues to enjoy strong support from many smaller associations, particularly across Africa and Asia, where FIFA development funding remains central to national soccer programmes, and he still appears well placed politically with no viable challenger emerging ahead of the presidential election.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Nick Said and Amy Tennery; Editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)
