Infantino hits out at Blatter鈥檚 鈥榗olonialism鈥 criticism
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino has rejected comments that the global soccer body has taken a 鈥渃olonialist鈥 attitude toward African football and the Confederation of African Football.
FIFA last month took the unprecedented move of announcing it would jointly administer African football with CAF and would send its Senegalese secretary general Fatma Samoura on a ninth-month secondment to overhaul the CAF.
The move followed corruption allegations against CAF president Ahmad Ahmad which he has denied.
Some African officials have opposed the move while former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, in a BBC interview, described it as a 鈥渘ew aspect of colonialism.鈥
Blatter has been banned from football for six years for ethics violations during his presidency. He denies wrongdoing.
鈥淚 have heard about colonialism, that FIFA is colonizing Africa again,鈥 Infantino told CAF鈥檚 general assembly in Cairo yesterday, adding that he was 鈥減uzzled鈥 by the remarks.
鈥淲hat does it mean, colonialism? I don鈥檛 know. It鈥檚 not part of my vocabulary.
鈥淚 know what it means to work, to team up, to roll up your sleeves, to go on the pitch and help and that is what we are doing,鈥 Infantino added. 鈥(Samoura鈥檚) heart is beating for Africa and we all suffer when we see what is going on here.鈥
He said it was important that African football had competitions where 鈥減eople trust the organization, where the stadium is secure and it is safe, where matches are not manipulated, where people trust the referees 鈥 these are some of the issues that African football is facing.鈥
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