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FIFA President Gianni Infantino received public support from several leading South American football officials on Friday as he traveled to Colombia to attend the inauguration of hard-right President Abelardo de la Espriella, even as the world governing body continues to face fallout from an abandoned plan to open the World Cup to private investment.
Infantino, 56, arrived in Cali early Friday and was photographed smiling alongside South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) President Alejandro Dominguez and Colombian Football Federation President Ramon Jesurun, according to images released by the Colombian federation.
When asked by an AFP journalist whether he considered FIFA's difficulties to be over, Infantino declined to respond.
He later appeared at a children's soccer festival at a sports complex in Cali, where he struck a warmer tone, telling the young players gathered in football gear, "It is a joy to be here today."
He added that "football is joy, football is happiness, football is unity," and noted that "so many champions" had come from that part of Colombia.
The Italian-Swiss lawyer, who has led FIFA since 2016 and plans to seek a fourth and final term at next March's presidential election in Rabat, is under pressure over the now-withdrawn proposal to create a commercial entity, the FIFA Forward Enterprise, that would have opened the World Cup to outside investors.
European governing body UEFA reiterated on Thursday that it was maintaining its threat to boycott the World Cup despite the plan's withdrawal.
CONMEBOL, which represents 10 FIFA-affiliated members including major federations such as Argentina and Brazil, said Thursday it was concerned about what it called "repeated unilateral actions" by FIFA.
But Dominguez, speaking to a Colombian media outlet Friday, struck a more conciliatory note, saying "one cannot ignore the great work" done by Infantino. "We must continue working for football through dialogue; it is not necessary to always agree," he said.
Support for Infantino also came from the Venezuelan and Ecuadorian football federations on Friday, following similar statements from Argentina's federation and Paraguay's federation a day earlier.
Like CONMEBOL's official position, both federations welcomed the decision to scrap the private-investment plan.
In a letter to Infantino, Ecuadorian federation president Francisco Egas Larreategui wrote that he had confidence in Infantino "as well as in those currently leading football to continue working for the good of our sport."
Infantino, who has cultivated ties with right-leaning political figures including US President Donald Trump, later attended De la Espriella's inauguration ceremony. Colombia's incoming president broke with tradition by staging the ceremony in Cali, known as the capital of salsa, rather than before Congress in Bogota.
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