{"id":13586,"date":"2026-11-09T18:16:43","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/afc-vice-president-hashem-haidar-backs-infantinos-re-election-bid-businessday-ng\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T18:16:43","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:16:43","slug":"afc-vice-president-hashem-haidar-backs-infantinos-re-election-bid-businessday-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/09\/afc-vice-president-hashem-haidar-backs-infantinos-re-election-bid-businessday-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC vice-president Hashem Haidar backs Infantino\u2019s re-election bid – Businessday NG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gianni Infantino\u2019s bid for a fourth term as FIFA president has received another major boost after Asian Football Confederation (AFC) vice-president Hashem Haidar reaffirmed the confederation\u2019s support for the Swiss administrator.\n<\/p>\n

Haidar described Infantino\u2019s re-election in March as a \u201cforegone conclusion\u201d, suggesting that Japan Football Association honorary president Kozo Tashima would struggle to mount a serious challenge.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully and publicly support Infantino,\u201d Haidar, who is also president of the Lebanese Football Federation, said at an event in Lebanon attended by the FIFA president, according to AFP.\n<\/p>\n

Infantino is seeking another four-year term after coming under criticism and facing calls to resign following revelations in July about plans to sell commercial interests in the FIFA World Cup.\n<\/p>\n

AFC endorsement strengthens Infantino\u2019s re-election bid<\/h3>\n

Infantino initially appeared to face significant opposition, with UEFA and CONCACAF among the confederations expressing concerns over the proposed commercial arrangement. The AFC had also initially emerged as part of the opposition before reversing its position and endorsing his candidacy last month.
The Asian confederation\u2019s backing has strengthened Infantino\u2019s position ahead of the FIFA presidential election scheduled for March 2027.<\/p>\n

Haidar questions Tashima\u2019s chances<\/h3>\n

Tashima, the honorary president of the Japan Football Association, announced last week that he would challenge Infantino for the FIFA presidency.\n<\/p>\n

However, Haidar believes the Japanese football administrator lacks the international backing required to defeat the incumbent.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cKozo Tashima might get a few votes, but it will be difficult for him to compete, as the FIFA presidency requires maintaining relationships in all regions of the world,\u201d Haidar said.\n<\/p>\n

Infantino, who was first elected FIFA president in 2016 and re-elected in 2019 and 2023, is seeking a fourth term. A victory would extend his leadership of world football\u2019s governing body until 2031.\n<\/p>\n

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Related News<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnthony Nlebem<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Head of Sports at BusinessDay Media, a seasoned Digital Content Producer, and FIFA\/CAF Accredited Journalist with over a decade of sports reporting.Has a deep understanding of the Nigerian and global sports landscape and skills in delivering comprehensive and insightful sports content.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Businessday NG<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gianni Infantino\u2019s bid for a fourth term as FIFA president has received another major boost after Asian Football Confederation (AFC) vice-president Hashem Haidar reaffirmed the confederation\u2019s support for the Swiss… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}