Gianni Infantino declares €500K in financial backing for FIFA campaign

 Gianni Infantino has declared €500,000 ($542,000) in financial backing from UEFA for his FIFA presidential campaign.



Infantino, UEFA's general secretary, disclosed on his campaign website that the funding was approved by the European governing body in October.

FIFA's 209 federations vote on Feb. 26. With Michel Platini ineligible due to his FIFA ban, Infantino entered the race on deadline-day in October as the UEFA-based candidate. The funding wasn't mentioned in that day's UEFA statement.

"The UEFA executive committee agreed last October to support my campaign for the presidency of FIFA and set aside an amount of €500,000 for this purpose," Infantino wrote on his website. "The funding is there essentially to cover the cost of my travels around the world and to provide some logistical support, given that I'm trying to meet as many national associations as possible in order to discuss issues of concern to them regarding the future of world football."

Infantino is competing against Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain, ex-FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale.

Infantino has this week been backed by Germany, Switzerland, Barbados and Suriname.