Gianni Infantino’s FIFA has significantly increased financial support for African football, but the funding has also deepened the continent’s dependence on football’s world governing body, according to Gerard A. Akindes, an academic who studies the political economy of the sport.
Infantino may have withdrawn his proposal to sell a minority stake in FIFA to corporate investors and may be facing opposition from several directions, but the wider commercialisation of football continues, Akindes argues.
FIFA sets and enforces the laws of the game, organises major tournaments including the World Cup and oversees football’s development through six continental confederations. In Africa, that responsibility is shared with CAF, which runs continental and regional national-team and club competitions.
CAF generates most of its income through the Africa Cup of Nations and financial support from FIFA. Akindes says FIFA’s development assistance is vital but has created an economic relationship in which African football remains reliant on funds from Zurich.
Schools were once the main route into organised sport for young African players after independence. However, years of government underinvestment, intensified by World Bank and International Monetary Fund adjustment programmes in the 1990s that reduced school sport provision, weakened the continent’s football foundations.
Private academies have since filled part of the gap, but Akindes says many operate primarily as export routes for young talent. At the same time, satellite coverage of European leagues has attracted supporters away from domestic football.
Infantino replaced Sepp Blatter’s Goal Programme with the FIFA Forward Development Programme and increased the available subsidies. In 2025, he confirmed that more than US$1bn had been invested in African football through the scheme since it began in 2016.
The importance of that money varies between countries. In Togo, FIFA funding currently accounts for about 30% of the national federation’s budget. Akindes says reports in Nigerian and Congolese newspapers have highlighted alleged financial irregularities involving FIFA Forward money, raising questions over transparency.
He also argues that dependence on FIFA has reduced the political independence of African football leaders. African association presidents and CAF’s president have unanimously backed Infantino’s re-election in March 2027, while remaining silent on immigration abuses linked to the 2026 World Cup and a controversial World Cup investment plan.
Akindes says Infantino influenced CAF leadership changes in 2017 and 2021 and effectively hand-picked Patrice Motsepe as its current president.
Questions over grassroots impact
The academic believes FIFA’s funding has largely strengthened elite national teams, stadiums and tournament prize money rather than grassroots football. He says development money can reinforce FIFA-aligned administrations unless it is matched by improvements in governance, accountability, domestic leagues, club infrastructure and CAF’s independence.
FIFA plans to establish between 20 and 30 football academies in Africa by 2027. The first two, in Mauritania and Djibouti, began operating in 2025. But Akindes questions whether the scheme will address the shortage of trained youth coaches, support national youth competitions or strengthen domestic leagues. He also points to the growth of unregulated academies in Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria and other countries.
Infantino’s Football for Schools programme, launched in 2019 and operating in 46 African countries, is intended to use football to teach life skills rather than improve the standard of school football.
Akindes says elite projects and competitions such as the forthcoming Nations League risk preserving a donor-recipient model while leaving deeper structural problems unresolved. He believes African governments and football associations should lead their own development strategies, with FIFA providing support rather than directing national priorities.
Broadcasting and political influence
The shift towards pay-TV began in Africa in the 1980s and accelerated in 2006, when Arab Radio and Television obtained Algerian broadcasting rights and required viewers to buy decoders.
An agreement under Blatter kept FIFA tournaments free-to-air through the African Union of Broadcasting, but it expired after the 2014 World Cup. FIFA under Infantino subsequently sold the rights to private broadcasters.
New World TV currently holds exclusive World Cup rights in sub-Saharan Africa. About half of the matches are sub-licensed to public service broadcasters, preserving some free access. However, high data costs and decoder fees mean many supporters rely on bars, public viewing areas or pirate streams.
Africa has long been a key voting bloc in FIFA presidential elections. Since Joao Havelange’s presidency from 1974 to 1998, its 54 member associations have held significant influence. A candidate needs 106 of FIFA’s 211 votes when one or two candidates remain on the final ballot.
FIFA presidents can serve three four-year terms. Infantino took over the final three years of Blatter’s term, meaning he has been president for a decade and may seek one further term.
African nations supported Infantino in 2016 after he promised to double development funding, a pledge he has fulfilled. Under his leadership, FIFA has also increased Africa’s World Cup places from five to nine for 2026 and provided COVID-19 relief.
But Akindes says the political benefits have come with substantial costs. African leaders have offered little critical debate over reforms, including the decision to stage the Africa Cup of Nations every four years rather than every two and the abandoned African Super League.
The continuing question, he says, is whether African football authorities can regain enough autonomy and integrity to put the interests of players, supporters and local communities ahead of FIFA’s global commercial agenda.
