RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesIn the aftermath of the World Cup , despite the many issues that had plagued the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada, Gianni Infantino spoke in tones that suggested he felt invincible. By delivering record revenues and the “most outstanding” World Cup ever, the Fifa president felt emboldened enough to embark on a victory lap , admonishing his critics from within the stronghold of his Fifa palace, while safe in the knowledge that the structures and mechanisms designed to keep him in power were secure.
Barely a week later, the walls around Infantino are crumbling before our eyes. In over-playing his hand and rushing through proposals to sell stakes in the World Cup and Fifa tournaments to private investors, Infantino has crossed a line from where there may not return. Uefa ’s extraordinary decision to boycott the World Cup should Infantino get his way has been followed by two more federations, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf, rejecting his proposals. Uefa now has enough support to comfortably defeat Infantino if a vote of Fifa’s 211 member associations goes ahead next month.
The walls around Gianni Infantino are crumbling (Getty)
Whether Infantino’s plans, understood by The Independent to have been in the works for over a year, even survive for that long is another matter. Infantino is also under mounting pressure from within Fifa itself. The president’s long-time adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, described as a heavyweight figure within the organisation, resigned in protest on Friday . “Football has been central to my life, and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away,” he said in a statement. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.” If even the Fifa suits have seen enough, it tells you that Infantino has gone too far.
In their own statement in the early hours of Friday morning, Fifa provided some “clarifications” around their private investment proposals, insisting that their “planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports”. But it may not stop some of Infantino’s steadfast allies from switching sides. Asia will host the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia and parts of the region have benefitted greatly from Infantino’s support since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but the AFC’s president, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, has been Infantino’s most vocal critic outside of Europe. A withering statement on Friday accused Fifa of “undermining” the World Cup and called for an “urgent review” into its governance.
The AFC said it stands in “solidarity” with Uefa, while Concacaf (The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) also confirmed that it had “rejected the proposals” following their own emergency meeting. The Independent also understands that the vast majority of Concacaf’s 41 members have lost confidence in Infantino’s presidency. That is to be admired, as Infantino’s ploy of offering countries $40m for backing his proposals , or risk receiving only $10m for rejecting them were aimed at smaller nations who would have benefitted greatly from the windfall, an additional pot of gold to clear debts and fund overdue infrastructure projects. Infantino attempted to target those vulnerabilities but he has come up against organised, united opposition.
With Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf aligned, a voting bloc of around 150 member associations would comfortably defeat Infantino’s proposals, even if a few countries from those federations went against the whip. For Infantino, an embarrassing defeat appears inevitable. Further opposition from the confederations of South America and Africa, who have yet to publicly take a stance either way, would surely make his position untenable and spell the end of his presidency. Even so, it is already beyond clear that Infantino must go: a president who places his political interests and the financial incentives of private investors – within Donald Trump’s own family – above the sport is no leader. As Uefa said: “This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of Fifa’s duty as the custodian of world football.”
Spain are among the Uefa nations to have threatened to boycott the World Cup (Reuters)
Infantino (left) has close ties with Trump (PA Wire)
Even if his proposals are defeated, Infantino, though, will surely take another page from the Trump playbook in another respect: could you ever imagine Trump resigning over anything, no matter how egregious, let alone admitting to a miscalculation of such epic proportions? It says a lot that, in the midst of an apparent crisis, Infantino was accelerating his plans for an expansion to 64 teams for the next World Cup while his fiercest opponents, Uefa, were holding its emergency meeting on Thursday.
Infantino is acting like a tyrant and he must be stopped. Uefa and its allies will be rewarded for the strength of its opposition in recent days but they must now strike and put forward a candidate to challenge Infantino’s presidency when he stands for re-election in March next year. Uefa’s Alexander Ceferin, who has positioned himself as the anti-Infantino despite making anti-competitive changes to the Champions League under his leadership, would be an obvious candidate .
Aleksander Ceferin (left) and Nasser Al-Khelaifi are possible challengers to Gianni Infantino (Getty)
The Independent , meanwhile, has reported that Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the chairman of Qatar Sports Investment, would also carry support. He could stand to gain from a further elevation of his status within the game. Other figures such as Lise Klaveness, the president of the Football Association of Norway, have been standing up to Infantino for some time. Klaveness in particular should be recognised for putting her head above the parapet long before the tide on Infantino turned within political circles.
Infantino’s plans...
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