By Andrew Warshaw
November 12 – One of Gianni Infantino’s staunchest allies in Africa has branded the latest allegations against the FIFA president as “hopelessly weak” and says his Continent still stands firmly behind Infantino who is running for re-election next year.
Amaju Pinnick (pictured), President of the Nigeria Football Federation, has hit out at Football Leaks, the whistleblowing website whose latest claims were widely reported by Der Spiegel over the past week.
Among them was the allegation that Infantino, when he was general secretary at UEFA, helped Manchester City and Paris St Germain avoid strict sanctions for sidestepping rules over financial fair play. Leaked documents alleged a deal was cut with UEFA, allowing the clubs to value sponsorship deals at far more than they were actually worth. If true, this would have helped to boost the clubs’ income, enabling them to comply with UEFA rules that limit the losses clubs are allowed to incur.
But Pinnick, who is highly regarded by Infantino and was recently catapulted by the Confederation of African Football into its vice-presidency following the resignation of Ghana’s Kwesi Nyantakyi, dismissed the leaks, saying they won’t stop Africa’s support for Infantino were designed “to try and smear the reputation of persons who are working so hard to re-position FIFA.”
“The leaks are hopelessly weak and it does not affect the fact that Africa sticks with Gianni,” Pinnick was quoted as saying by the Punch newspaper group. “Nigeria and the whole of Africa are not bothered by whatever the haters have. We stick with Infantino and the current administration at FIFA.”
In August Nigeria narrowly avoided being thrown out of international football after agreeing to recognise Pinnick as the FIFA-approved head of its federation following a bitter internal row.
Pinnick clearly feels it is payback time, perhaps with his own ambitions in mind.
“We now have a FIFA that is truly global in outlook and pursuing the interests of all six confederations and 211 Member Associations without any fear or favour,” he was quoted as saying. “When Infantino came into office, he opened all the windows to inclusiveness, diversity and true development across board.”
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