Oct 23 - FIFA President Gianni Infantino's reelection prospects have strengthened significantly after the head of Asian football endorsed his bid for a fourth term, leaving Europe increasingly isolated and exposing the lack of a credible challenger.

Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa's endorsement, delivered at the AFC extraordinary congress in Tokyo on Friday, marked a striking reconciliation with Infantino.

Sheikh Salman had joined UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF chief Victor Montagliani in criticising the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, which sought private investment in a new entity controlling commercial rights linked to major FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.

Their public opposition, followed by calls for Infantino to resign, raised questions about whether the FIFA president's previously solid support base was beginning to fracture.

But Sheikh Salman told the AFC's congress that Asia was united behind Infantino, two months after the confederation accused him of a "fundamental breach of trust" over the venture.

The turnaround has significantly narrowed the path for any challenger ahead of the March election.

ELECTORAL ARITHMETIC

Asia has 47 member associations, although only 46 are FIFA members eligible to vote in the presidential election. Each national federation has one vote in the FIFA election regardless of the country's size or its football pedigree.

Infantino had already secured support from Africa's 54-member confederation, where he has enjoyed strong relationships throughout his presidency.

South America's CONMEBOL has only 10 votes but did not join calls for his resignation, while most of Oceania's associations are also expected to remain in his camp.

CONCACAF, which represents North and Central America and the Caribbean, had initially joined UEFA and the AFC in criticising Infantino, but its member associations are now divided, with influential members including Mexico backing the incumbent.

Confederation endorsements do not formally bind individual associations, but the support available to Infantino across Asia, Africa and elsewhere gives him a commanding position among FIFA’s 211 voting members before nominations close on November 18.

That leaves UEFA, with its 55 associations, as the main centre of opposition, but even unanimous European support for another candidate would account for little more than a quarter of the electorate.

UEFA ISOLATED

UEFA has remained critical of Infantino and continues to seek answers regarding the abandoned FFE project and broader governance issues.

Europe, however, has not yet produced a credible challenger and is increasingly isolated in its opposition to Infantino, whose strength has always rested on building alliances beyond football's traditional power centres.

Sheikh Salman, Ceferin and Montagliani questioned both the substance of the FFE proposal and the way it had been presented.

Infantino subsequently abandoned the project and apologised over the way it had been handled at a closed FIFA Council meeting in Zurich last week.

The apology failed to sway European football associations but Sheikh Salman said in Tokyo that the two men had reached an understanding and should now "move forward".

Infantino's swift retreat and the promise of allocating $25 million to each association appear to have helped repair damaged relationships.

"In ten years since I became FIFA President, we have gone from $1 million per FIFA Member Association to $25 million each – all across the world," Infantino said.

"I would like to thank everyone who has made suggestions over the past few months on the distribution of FIFA's funds to our 211 FIFA Member Associations as we need to look forward in a spirit of unity and in the best interests of football."

Sheikh Salman's endorsement suggests the crisis that threatened to complicate Infantino's reelection campaign has so far cost him little lasting political support.

Unless UEFA can quickly produce a challenger capable of building support beyond Europe, the election increasingly looks less like a contest over Infantino's leadership than a demonstration of his continuing command of the electorate. REUTERS