On the evening of August 13th, according to foreign media reports reprinted by "Beijing Youth Daily", amidst the shelving of the FFE (FIFA Forward Enterprises) privatization plan and FIFA's unprecedented governance crisis, football associations from six Arab countries, including the Qatar Football Association, one of the AFC member associations, collectively and openly expressed their support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

On Thursday (the 13th) local time, the presidents of the football associations of six countries, including Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, and Mauritania, issued a joint statement to publicly express their support for FIFA President Infantino.

It is worth noting that Morocco is a co-host country for the 2030 World Cup, and Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup. In the eyes of foreign media, the voice of Arab football in the global football arena continues to grow—among the six football association heads who signed the joint statement, four are members of the FIFA Council, making this statement quite significant.

Undoubtedly, the trigger for this controversy was the FFE plan, previously strongly promoted by Infantino and led by Joshua Kushner Capital. The plan aimed to package the commercial rights of core FIFA events such as the World Cup and introduce private capital. This move was met with questioning and opposition from all sides of the football world, including strong resistance from UEFA, AFC, and CONCACAF. The aforementioned three continental football confederations issued a joint open letter a few days ago, demanding an independent investigation into the FFE project. Under immense pressure, Infantino ultimately announced the shelving of the plan, but it seems that the disagreements, or even confrontations, between various continents or different football powers have not dissipated.

In stark contrast to the stance of the aforementioned three continental football confederations, the football associations of the six Arab countries explicitly expressed full trust in Infantino's leadership in their statement, affirming his work in promoting global football, and stating their willingness to continue deepening cooperation with the FIFA President to help Arab football expand its international influence. It is noteworthy that both the Qatar Football Association and the Lebanon Football Association are AFC member associations. Their inconsistency with the AFC's position inevitably raises questions: has this incident also triggered internal divisions within Asian football?

The lines between factions in world football are becoming increasingly clear—UEFA, AFC, and CONCACAF previously issued a joint letter, directly stating that trust in FIFA, and particularly in Infantino personally, has broken down, and demanded an independent review of the FFE incident. Meanwhile, football associations from multiple African countries and the six Arab countries have successively publicly supported Infantino. With different football powers continuing to confront each other, internal divisions within international football seem difficult to heal in the short term, and the future direction of FIFA's governance structure and major commercial reforms remains full of challenges and uncertainties.

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