The Central American Football Union (UNCAF), with seven votes in next month’s FIFA presidential election, have announced their support for UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino.
Infantino is one of the frontrunners in the election to replace banned FIFA president Sepp Blatter, which is to be held on Feb.26.
UNCAF is part of the the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, and in a letter provided to Reuters on Monday, the presidents of the seven national federations in the region expressed their support for Infantino.
The statement was signed by the presidents of the federations for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua, along with UNCAF president Rafael Tinocco.
“I am delighted to have received the endorsement of all the seven federations of UNCAF,” Infantino said in a statement.
“This support adds to the ones I have been receiving from all over the world and encourages me to keep working hard, explaining in detail my proposals to as many federations as possible,” he added.
Infantino is currently in Paraguay meeting with officials of the South American confederation South American Football Federation.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa and South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale are also standing in the vote.
Infantino, 45, entered the race to succeed Blatter after UEFA president Michel Platini was suspended pending an ethics investigation in October last year and then banned for eight years from all soccer activities.
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