FIFA’s Infantino set for crunch meeting after World Cup selloff crisis
Gianni Infantino will hold a crisis meeting with top FIFA officials in Morocco on Wednesday as he looks to shore up his position in the
Gianni Infantino will hold a crisis meeting with top FIFA officials in Morocco on Wednesday as he looks to shore up his position in the wake of the collapse of his gambit to sell off commercial rights to the World Cup. The FIFA president has been the subject of a torrent of criticism, and no small amount of personal abuse, since he floated the idea of the new commercial rights body to FIFA’s 211 member associations last week. The proposed sale of 20% of the body to private investment to raise $4.2bn, and the involvement of a company with family links to United States President Donald Trump, were just the most egregious flaws in the plan for its many critics. Infantino’s backdown last Friday has done little to assuage those critics, most notably the European confederation UEFA, which accused him of selling the soul of the game and said it no longer has confidence in his leadership. That has cast a shadow over Infantino’s re-election for a fourth term at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in March, which looked a foregone conclusion two months ago. UEFA confirmed to Al Jazeera on Tuesday that it has issued FIFA with a “document preservation letter”, but made no further comment. A handful of European federations have withdrawn their backing for the Swiss Italian, but perhaps more damaging is the messaging coming from several of Infantino’s colleagues at FIFA.
FIFA Secretary-General Mattias Grafstrom sent an internal memo to staff lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” that led to the project being “permanently abandoned”, two sources told the Reuters news agency. “Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go. The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue …” the Swede added in the letter, which made no mention of Infantino by name. His words echoed those of FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour, who said last week that staff had been “deceived” over the plan, which he described as “the project of one person”. Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest at the plan last week, and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger distanced himself from it on Tuesday. Wenger, the chief of Global Football Development at FIFA, said he was not involved in drafting the proposal and maintained the decision to withdraw it was “absolutely necessary”. Can Infantino survive until the FIFA presidential election in March? Infantino has spent the last week in Morocco, which will cohost the next World Cup in 2030 and whose football association has already announced its continued support for him. The first order of Wednesday’s meeting at FIFA’s Africa office in Sale, which sits across the Bou Regreg river from the Moroccan capital Rabat, is likely to focus on ensuring that Infantino at least survives the seven months until the election. An Extraordinary Congress could be called if 43 or more FIFA member associations make a formal written request for one.
The BriefWire