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See the full story · 7 sourcesFIFA President Gianni Infantino has been accused of blackmail by Jordan Football Association President Prince Ali Al Hussein -Credit:ADEM ALTAN, AFP via Getty Images
Jordan Football Association President Prince Ali Al Hussein has made the shocking claim that he was informed during the FIFA World Cup that his nation stood to benefit should he throw his support behind Gianni Infantino. The FIFA President has endured a turbulent few weeks after his contentious plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors was abandoned following fierce opposition .
Several governing bodies condemned his proposal, and a representative of one nation's FA present at the World Cup has gone even further by alleging that blackmail attempts were made. Prince Ali also disclosed that Jordan has yet to receive payment for reaching the Final of a FIFA event, among several other outstanding grievances, via The Mirror .
Part of his X post read: "For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters- until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out.
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-Credit:KARIM JAAFAR, AFP via Getty Images
"We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that."
His full message stated: "There is no shortage of issues regarding FIFA. Let me start by clarifying what some of these are from an FA perspective, in particular that of Jordan going into a World Cup for the first time. We are a small country with a minimal budget for our FA and had to deal with enormous hurdles.
"First, getting our fans into the USA: not all were granted VISAS, even though they had tickets -which we also know were sold at exorbitant prices.
"Secondly, we are being taxed by the US govt through FIFA for our participation. Money that should go to players and staff.
"This was not the case for those who played and set up camp in Canada and Mexico. But we happened to be in the USA so now we face these huge costs in taxes for having participated.
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"Thirdly we have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event.
"The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve."
Infantino made a dramatic U-turn on his ambitions for the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), with all plans abandoned. Pressure on his position remains considerable, with FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom publicly lambasting him in a leaked email.
Arsene Wenger subsequently released a public statement clarifying the responsibilities of his role within FIFA, in a bid to separate himself from Infantino's controversy.
UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation all voiced opposition to his proposal, with UEFA also threatening legal action.
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