Belgian football authorities against FIFA chief Infantino running for another term

Belgian football authorities against FIFA chief Infantino running for another term According to the statement, the Royal Belgian Football Association’s decision is based on two fundamental principles that FIFA has not yet disclosed BRUSSELS, September 7. /TASS/. The Royal Belgian Football Association (KBVB) will not support FIFA President Gianni Infantino if the Swiss expert runs for another term as president of the world’s governing body of football, the KBVB press office said in a statement on Monday. "KBVB states that it cannot support Gianni Infantino’s candidacy for another term as FIFA president," the statement quotes KBVB President Pascale Van Damme as saying. "The KBVB’s decision is based on two fundamental principles that FIFA has not yet disclosed: the situation with FIFA Forward Enterprise – KBVB notes that, to date, there is insufficient understanding of the core motivation and decision·making processes for a number of important decisions and assessments regarding this issue," she continued. "It all raises questions regarding the transparency and process management. Important questions also remain unanswered for us concerning the ongoing case with the red card flashed to [US player] Folarin Balogun during the [2026 FIFA] World Cup, in which KBVB was directly involved," Van Damme added. Balogun was slapped with a red card after he appeared to drive his cleat into the ankle of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic in their match during the Round of 32 at the World Cup earlier this summer. The Royal Belgian Football Association appealed FIFA’s decision to overturn Balogun’s red-card disqualification ahead of its July 6 match against the US in the round of 16. However, the Disciplinary Committee of FIFA rejected the appeal and Balogun appeared on the pitch for the match against Belgium at Seattle Stadium, where hosts USA eventually fell to the Belgians 4-1. The next election of the head of the world’s governing football body will be held in March 2027. November 18 is the deadline for submitting applications for taking part in the election. Infantino’s controversial commercial offer Infantino announced a proposal on July 30 to sell a share of the FIFA World Cup commercial rights to private investors under a scheme that he claimed would have potentially brought in tens of millions of dollars. The plan involved establishing a company that would control the major men's and women's FIFA tournaments - the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. The organization consulted with people close to the administration of US President Donald Trump prior to voicing this decision. In response to the proposal, the European governing body of football, UEFA, said that 55 of its member-states had voted to boycott all football tournaments sponsored by FIFA. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) also rejected Infantino’s proposal. In March 2023, Infantino was re-elected for another four-year term as the president of FIFA. Infantino, who was 52 at that time, ran unopposed as he was elected unanimously at the 2023 FIFA Congress in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Infantino was elected the president of the world’s governing body in February 2016 at the FIFA Extraordinary Congress in Paris. In June 2019, he was re-elected for another four-year presidential term. Born in Switzerland, Infantino, 56, is fluent in French, Italian and German and also speaks English, Spanish and Arabic. 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