It’s probably not a coincidence, what with Fifa’s presidential election getting closer all the time, but Gianni Infantino has been sweeping through Asian member associations. There he was attending a ceremony in Macau to inaugurate new headquarters, signing an agreement in Mongolia to build a new national stadium and in Uzbekistan to open a Fifa Arena mini-pitch. All wise moves as Asia is still divided when it comes to the battle for the biggest job in world football.
A number of associations have expressed support for the incumbent; others have openly opposed him; some will decide upon seeing the other candidate; some will follow the lead of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) leadership and vote against Infantino; others will just wait. The culmination of Infantino’s trip were the two finals of the inaugural Fifa Asean Cup, a new tournament for south-east Asia and a few invited guests. In Saturday’s final of the Asean Challenge Cup, the second-tier event held in Hong Kong, Infantino was greeted with chants of “Fifa Mafia”, but 48 hours later in Indonesia for the main event the reception for the 56-year-old was a little warmer.
Jakarta is already onside and did Infantino a huge favour by winning a tournament that was very much his brainchild. Six nations fought for the Challenge Cup, with Hong Kong beating Cambodia 2-0 in the final. Meanwhile Indonesia defeated Thailand in the final of the eight-team Asean Cup in a penalty shootout, much to the delight of 70,000 fans in Jakarta.
It was a smart move from Fifa to give Indonesia hosting rights of a new tournament that was in danger of being unnecessary, unwanted and almost unnoticed. Indonesia were hungry for success after never being champions of south-east Asia. While the Asean Cup is new, the region has had a longstanding biennial competition – currently known as the Hyundai Asean Cup – since 1996 and the final of the 16th edition was won by Vietnam in August.
This meant that few thought there was any need for another competition. Last October, he arrived in Kuala Lumpur at a regional Asean meeting and announced a new tournament for the region. A few minutes after the speech, Fifa’s media office was sending out what looked to be hastily put together emails to promise that details would follow.
The AFC was less than impressed at the world body coming into its back yard and announcing new tournaments. Information was hard to come by. Then there were invitations for China and India to participate, a blatant if understandable attempt to capture some of 2.8 billion potential viewers.
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