GENEVA (AP) — FIFA President Gianni Infantino now has a serious challenger in his fight for re-election amid the biggest crisis of his 11-year leadership of world soccer.
FIFA council member Kohzo Tashima — a colleague of Infantino for nearly 11 years — intends to run for president against the incumbent, Japanese media reported on Thursday after a meeting of the national soccer federation.
Tashima is the first serious rival to emerge against Infantino ahead of a Nov. 18 deadline since the FIFA leader provoked a furor in global soccer in July with a plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investors.
“The worst thing that can happen is he (Infantino) is re-elected to the post without an election,” Tashima said on Thursday, quoted by business newspaper Nikkei.
Infantino's multibillion dollar investor project was dropped within days after a backlash by soccer leaders in Europe, Asia and North America plus FIFA staffers.
He and FIFA also faced scrutiny over the integrity of disciplinary decisions affecting World Cup games, in cases involving Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, United States forward Folarin Balogun and Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi.
Japanese newspaper Asahi reported Tashima announced his intention to run in the election next March, and that board members of the Japan Football Association unanimously agreed to back him. Sports newspaper Nikkan Sports also reported the news.
“It’s not win or lose, but we must show the rest of the world the sincere, sound, and noble approach of the Japanese soccer,” Tashima said, according to sports newspaper Sponichi Annex.
The JFA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press.
Japanese soccer and Tashima have kept a seat at the high table of Asian and FIFA politics in the past 15 years as the Asian Football Confederation came more under the influence of Gulf states like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Still, a rift developed last month when the AFC, having criticized Infantino in August, switched position to give him support.
Last week, the JFA announced its vice president Takeshi Okada quit because of the politics around Infantino shoring up his support. Okada coached Japan at the World Cups in 1998 and 2010.
After that AFC meeting in Tokyo two weeks ago, Sponichi Annex reported Thursday, Tashima told the Asian body's president Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa that he could not support Infantino.
The 68-year-old Tashima is a former Japan midfielder and FA president who has been on FIFA’s ruling committee since 2015 when Sepp Blatter was president.
Tashima is seen as a respected, diplomatic and low-profile official in the often murky world of soccer politics.
Candidates need formal support from five of FIFA’s 211 member federations who will vote on March 18 in Rabat, Morocco. They must also pass an eligibility check by a three-member panel appointed by FIFA, whose ruling can later by challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Infantino is expected to face scrutiny for seeking a fourth term in office until 2031, which would be 15 years in office, when FIFA statutes limit presidents to three full terms and 12 years. FIFA legal advice in 2022 was that Infantino's initial term — from 2016-19 completing Blatter's unfinished mandate — should not count against the 12-year limit.
European soccer body UEFA has been leading efforts to find a candidate to challenge Infantino ahead of the Nov. 18 deadline to enter the contest.
It was unclear on Thursday if Tashima is formally endorsed by UEFA which was approached for comment.
In the FIFA presidential election of 2015 won by Blatter, UEFA had a strategy of backing three candidates in the early stages of the campaign before two withdrew — Portugal great Luis Figo and Dutch official Michael van Praag — leaving Prince Ali bin Al Hussain to advance alone on the ballot.
Figo is now a senior advisor to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, who in September likened Infantino to the fairytale of the emperor with no clothes, adding: “Football has no need for emperors.”
Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
FILE - FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, greets Japan soccer association President Kohzo Tashima prior to the World Cup group E soccer match between Germany and Japan, at a stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - Japan Football Association (JFA) President Kohzo Tashima speaks during a press conference at its headquarters in Tokyo, on April 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England indicated Thursday that the sharp decline in energy prices after the U.S. midterm elections — if sustained — could limit the prospect of further interest rate hikes in the coming months.
After raising its main interest rate for the first time in more than three years to 4% from 3.75%, the bank said the outlook for U.K. borrowing costs largely hinges on what happens with the Iran war.
“We’ve seen encouraging news in the past 48 hours," Bank Gov. Andrew Bailey said at a press briefing following the first interest rate hike since August 2023. “The best thing that can happen is to resolve the conflict in the Middle East; there’s no question about it.”
The heavy losses suffered by the Republican Party in the U.S. midterm elections have been followed by a sharp drop in energy prices. Many believe that it’s now less likely that U.S. President Donald Trump will launch fresh strikes on Iran, with Democrats gaining control of Congress early next year following their big wins this week. Many Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, blamed the war for the party’s poor performance at the ballot box.
Though Brent crude is down around $15 a barrel this week, trading at $96, that is still more than $30 more expensive than it was at this time last year.
If the decline in oil and gas prices is sustained over the coming weeks, then the expected peak in inflation next summer — which the bank anticipates will reach 5% — could be lower. That could temper the need for future rate hikes, and not just by the Bank of England.
Other central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, have raised rates recently in response to the higher inflation stoked by the Iran war, and their interest rate strategies are largely contingent on what happens to energy prices.
Bailey said Thursday's hike “shouldn’t be seen as the first in an inevitable long sequence of hikes” but stressed that the outlook depends on what happens in the war with Iran.
“Unless the conflict in the Middle East is resolved, neither does it seem likely to be the last increase,” he said.
For hard-pressed households facing higher mortgage rates and businesses paying more to access capital, the hope is that Thursday’s rate hike will be the last for some time.
“The path for interest rates is hanging in the balance, with U.S.-Iran hostilities holding the key," said Suren Thiru, ICAEW's chief economist.
The decision to raise interest rates was unanimous given the pickup in inflation this year, though one of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee backed an even bigger increase, to 4.25%.
The pressure on rate-setters has grown steadily in recent months. When inflation hit an 11-month high of 3.5% in September — well above the bank's 2% target — it cemented market expectations of a rate hike this month, with potentially more to come in 2027.
The main cause of the spike in inflation this year has been the sharp rise in fuel costs resulting from the Iran war and the ensuing bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz, which have squeezed global oil and gas supplies and pushed prices at the pump and household energy bills higher.
“There is now enough inflationary pressure in the pipeline caused by the rise in energy prices that an increase in Bank rate is warranted," Bailey said.
Interest rates in the U.K. had been trending downward from a 15-year high of 5.25% until the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, second left, attends the Bank of England Monetary Policy Report press conference, alongside Deputy Governor for monetary policy of the Bank of England, Clare Lombardelli, left, Head of Media and Stakeholder Engagement at Bank of England, Katie Martin, second right, and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England for Markets and Banking, Dave Ramsden, right, at the Bank Of England in London, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (Alishia Abodunde/Pool Photo via AP)
Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, attends the Bank of England Monetary Policy Report press conference at the Bank Of England in London, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (Alishia Abodunde/Pool Photo via AP)
Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, attends the Bank of England Monetary Policy Report press conference at the Bank Of England in London, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (Alishia Abodunde/Pool Photo via AP)
Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, attends the Bank of England Monetary Policy Report press conference at the Bank Of England in London, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (Alishia Abodunde/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - The facade of the Bank of England is seen in th London on Nov. 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
