FIFA president Gianni Infantino has renewed his pledge to narrow the financial and competitive gap between football’s richest nations and the rest of the world.
A message that carries particular significance for Africa as the embattled administrator fights to retain support ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Speaking during a visit to the Dominican Republic, Infantino said FIFA’s responsibility was not simply to celebrate football’s established powers but to ensure countries with fewer resources are given the means to compete.
“This is our task, this is our job. We want to grow football in every one of our 211 countries in the world,” Infantino said.
“The big ones, they are doing a great job, and we commend and congratulate them, and they should continue to grow as well, obviously, but we need to give a chance to all the others.”
For African football, the argument is particularly relevant. The continent has long complained that talent has not always been matched by infrastructure, financial resources and access to elite competition.
But the expanded 2026 World Cup offered perhaps the strongest evidence yet of what greater opportunity can produce.
A record 10 African countries competed at the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States, double the five that represented the continent at Qatar 2022. Nine progressed from the group stage, while Morocco reached the quarter-finals.
African teams recorded 11 victories during the tournament, compared with 37 accumulated across all previous World Cups.
Infantino appears to be using that progress as part of a wider argument that FIFA should redistribute more of the wealth generated by its biggest competitions.
“This is about, indeed, finding and giving opportunities, access, and resources to world football,” he said.
That message could resonate strongly across Africa, where FIFA says more than $1 billion has been invested through its Forward development programme since 2016.
By September 2025, FIFA Forward investment involving CAF, Africa’s regional bodies and the continent’s 54 member associations had reached $1.06 billion, with FIFA projecting the figure would rise to about $1.28 billion by the end of 2026.
Under the current Forward 3.0 cycle, every FIFA member association can access up to $8 million between 2023 and 2026, including operational funding and money for projects such as pitches, technical centres and training facilities.
Yet Infantino’s renewed development pitch comes at a difficult moment. The FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, which was intended to increase development funding through a new commercial structure, was withdrawn at the end of July following opposition over governance, consultation and the proposed involvement of private investors.
FIFA had initially suggested that future development funding could rise substantially, including an optional $20 million for special projects and another $20 million per association during the 2027-30 Forward cycle.
Infantino eventually abandoned the proposal, acknowledging that it had created divisions that were no longer compatible with FIFA’s stated objective of uniting the game.
That controversy has since developed into a wider challenge to his leadership, with a number of European associations withdrawing support and UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf questioning FIFA’s governance.
Infantino, however, continues to enjoy significant backing in Africa and South America ahead of the presidential election scheduled for March 2027 in Morocco.
Africa’s 54 associations represent one of the most important voting blocs in the coming contest.
Infantino’s comments can consequently be read both as a statement of FIFA policy and a reminder to developing football nations of what his presidency believes it has delivered.
“Some, unfortunately, don’t need and they don’t want others to grow,” he said. “But we need to narrow this gap between the big countries and all the others.”
For Africa, the bigger question will be whether narrowing that gap can continue without compromising the governance standards that opponents of Infantino insist FIFA must protect.
The 2026 World Cup demonstrated that when African teams are given more places, many can compete.
The next test is whether FIFA can provide the infrastructure, competitions and financial support needed to make that progress sustainable, and whether African federations believe Infantino remains the man best placed to deliver it.
