By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
February 26- New Fifa president Gianni Infantino says he will stick to his manifesto pledge to appoint a non-European as his general secretary – throwing into question the position of Markus Kattner who is currently doing the job.
Kattner, who was previously deputy to Jerome Valcke, has been running the show since Valcke was sacked by Fifa and suspended by its ethics committee. But now his role is also at risk though not for any wrongdoing.
At his first press conference in his new role within minutes of being elected, a tired-looking Infantino, still coming to terms with how far he has come in such a short time, was anything but triumphalist as he asked for understanding after an exhaustive globe-trotting campaign.
But the soon to be ex-Uefa general secretary said he wouldn’t budge from his intention to bring in a non-European as his own new number two. “I have some ideas about it and of course I want to have a very strong general secretary which is an important position,” he said. “I said in my programme that the general secretary would not be European but we have time to discuss it and make the best choice for fifa and for football.”
Infantino, who steps up after nine years as Michel Platini’s deputy, also promised to work to reduce the emphasis on politics in order to avoid the “barriers and divisions” that have characterised the game in several Continents. “We have to build bridges, not walls,” he said.
Asian football leader Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Infantino’s vanquished opponent, issued a brief statement in which he hoped the new Fifa president could rise to the challenge.
The Bahraini president of the Asian Football Confederation had been a narrow favourite heading into the election but lost crucial support among smaller nations, possibly because of his strategy, realistic or not, of continually questioning Infantino’s ambitious spending plans.
“The new FIFA needs to become more inclusive and reflect the diversity of world football. I trust Gianni Infantino will provide the leadership to achieve this, as well as the rest of the reforms that are now urgently needed,” he said .
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