Arab and African support bolsters Infantino's hopes in the face of the European campaign

Gianni Infantino's hopes of remaining FIFA president have received a boost. Four Asian countries have publicly declared their support for him, following the cancellation of a plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private-sector investors.

British newspaper "Daily Mail" reported on Sunday that UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation forced Infantino into a U-turn on the plan to sell a World Cup stake worth 3.1 billion pounds sterling. UEFA and CONCACAF then called for his resignation.

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Kuwait, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Lebanon have all backed Infantino, the newspaper added, strengthening his position against the campaign to remove him.

UEFA and CONCACAF hold 96 of FIFA's 211 member federations between them, enough to trigger proceedings for a no-confidence vote but not enough to bring Infantino down. He still enjoys wide support in Africa, South America is expected to join his side, and the stance of the Asian federations will prove decisive in any move against him.

Both UEFA and CONCACAF had demanded a comprehensive review of FIFA's leadership. They argued that the proposal to sell a World Cup stake "revealed a governance crisis within the international federation".

Federations from the Middle East and North Africa, meanwhile, issued statements of support for the FIFA president, among them Egypt, Qatar and Morocco.

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