African football boss Patrice Motsepe says the position of embattled president Gianni Infantino can only be decided by FIFA elections.
Europe’s governing body UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF, which oversees football in the Caribbean, North and Central America, have accused Infantino of “deception” following his abandoned plan to sell off stakes in the men’s World Cup to private investors.
It is understood the trio want to give Infantino the chance to resign and leave his position with dignity without seeking re-election in March next year.
But Motsepe, a FIFA vice-president and president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), insists that if opponents want to “take out” Infantino they must follow procedure and go through the ballot box.
“If anybody has got any problem against anybody, whether it’s Gianni, whether it is anybody else, follow the process, follow the FIFA process, simple as that,” Motsepe told Sky News.
“If you want to take him out, go for elections; let the 211 member associations decide. Do that and the vote will express whether they’ve got confidence in him or not.
“You’ve got to be very careful. There are elections taking place next year. Shouldn’t we allow that process to continue?”
Motsepe was in Salzburg to hold talks with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin amid the crisis that has engulfed FIFA since Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plans were made public.
“I’ve heard so many stories about various issues and am careful to pass judgement on anything,” Motsepe said.
“Everybody has a right to be heard. Let’s have a hearing, and a proper forum, a proceeding, a court, or whatever it is, or a tribunal … everybody is entitled to fair judgement, to fair treatment.”
Motsepe said CAF had consulted lawyers and claimed there was no breach of rules over the secret World Cup sell-off talks, because the proposals would be submitted to members for final approval.
“There’s a lot that’s problematic and negative that they have to fix,” Motsepe said.
“But he has apologised and said maybe there’s a different way these things should have been done, but we also take advice.”
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI), meanwhile, has become the latest FIFA member to withdraw its support for Infantino to be re-elected.
“Following an FAI Board Meeting, the decision was taken to rescind the letter of support that the Association supplied earlier this year,” the organisation said in a statement.
“It has since written to FIFA to explain its reasoning. The Association is grateful for the support that FIFA provides to Irish football, but recent events have raised significant concerns regarding governance, transparency and the lack of meaningful consultation.
“Considering the governance challenges that the FAI has had to overcome in recent years, the Association feels a particular obligation to advocate for and uphold best practice.”