By Rohith Nair
Aug 5 (Reuters) – FIFA President Gianni Infantino is holding a crisis meeting with top officials of the governing body in Morocco on Wednesday as he looks to shore up his position following the collapse of his proposal to sell off commercial rights to the World Cup.
Infantino has been the subject of a torrent of criticism 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 $4.2 billion, and the involvement of a company with family links to U.S. President Donald Trump, were only the most serious flaws in the plan for its many critics.
His backdown last Friday has done little to assuage those critics, most notably European soccer’s governing body UEFA, which accused him of selling the soul of the game and has 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.
A handful of European federations have withdrawn their backing for the Swiss Italian but perhaps more damaging are the messages coming from Infantino’s FIFA colleagues.
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 Reuters.
“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’s 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 Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of Global Football Development, said he had not been involved in drafting the proposal and that the decision to withdraw it was “absolutely necessary”.
Former Portugal great Luis Figo, who had planned to run for the FIFA presidency in 2015 before withdrawing, described Infantino’s behaviour as the “lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested” he had ever seen.
“I could write 10,000 words on the problems at FIFA. But the solution needs only three: Infantino must go,” Figo wrote in a Daily Mail column.
UEFA Vice-President Laura McAllister said Infantino’s leadership had reached a crisis point.
“There’s a lot of unrest about the unilateral nature of the intervention around FFE last week. So I imagine this meeting is going to bring things to a head,” McAllister told Reuters.
SURVIVE SEVEN MONTHS UNTIL THE ELECTION
Infantino has spent the last week in Morocco, which will co-host the World Cup in 2030 and whose football association has 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.
Qatar, which hosted the 2022 World Cup, Kuwait, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines have declared their loyalty to Infantino.
Infantino has always enjoyed a lot of support away from the traditional heartlands of the game, where impoverished football associations rely on FIFA’s largesse to operate.
“Although FIFA has withdrawn the FFE proposal, PFF continues to support the goal behind it, championed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino: expanding commercial and financial assistance to all 211 Member Associations, especially smaller markets like the Philippines,” the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) said.
But European Leagues, which represents over 1,300 clubs across Europe, said FIFA must not be allowed to “continue taking unilaterally disruptive decisions” that affect clubs, players and fans.
“Now more than ever, FIFA requires governance reform that ensures that all relevant stakeholders have a formal role in decisions that shape the future of our game,” it said, also criticising the “impractically short assessment timeline” of four weeks given by FIFA to study the plan to expand the World Cup from 48 to 64 teams for the 2030 edition.
AFRICAN ADMINISTRATORS BACK INFANTINO
Leading African football administrators have sent messages of support as Infantino looks to the continent’s 54 members for backing. The African confederation (CAF) has yet to take a stance.
The executive committee of the smallest and least wealthy regional confederation, Oceania, will meet next Wednesday to discuss their approach.
“I think it’s going to be really interesting for the international football community over the next few weeks,” New Zealand Football chief Andrew Pragnell told Reuters on Tuesday.
“It’s really important for a country like New Zealand to make a lot of contact with its confederation. It helps when you act in unison with your confederation.”
Under FIFA rules, the vote of San Marino, whose men’s team are ranked 211th and last in the world rankings, counts as much as that of World Cup winners like Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Spain.
One clear advantage for Infantino as he looks to extend his presidency until 2031 is that no clear candidate to stand against him in March’s election has yet emerged.
Jordan FA President Prince Ali bin Hussein has twice stood for the post and he made his position clear on Tuesday when he accused FIFA of “blackmail”, saying it had offered to help solve problems in exchange for endorsing Infantino.
“We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now,” Prince Ali wrote on social media.
Reuters has contacted FIFA for comment on the allegations.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair, Lori Ewing, Ian Ransom, Tim Hart and Suramya Kaushik, writing by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford and Ed Osmond)
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