Trump pal Gianni Infantino is “clinging to power” after his controversial plan to give himself a significant raise while selling a stake in the World Cup’s commercial empire collapsed, a new report alleges.
UEFA, European soccer’s 55-member governing body, has led the revolt against Infantino’s proposal, voting unanimously to boycott all FIFA competitions if the deal went ahead. Now, UEFA officials are going so far as to call for Infantino to resign.
The European organization issued a statement saying it “cannot keep going” under the current leadership, criticizing what it described as “secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game.”
Sources told The Sunday Times reporter Martyn Ziegler that Infantino’s proposal to sell stakes to private investors included plans for him to become commissioner of the venture after his presidency ended—a role that would have carried a $30 million salary, not accounting for potential bonuses. That would have been quite the raise compared to the $6 million he currently makes as FIFA’s president.
A senior soccer source told the paper, “Infantino had it all, and his reckless greed means he has now lost it. He’s an embarrassment, and he’s not a lame duck but a dead duck.”
FIFA maintains that an arrangement to place Infantino in a cushy new role was never discussed.
“We must identify those responsible and hold them to account,” read a UEFA statement. The only individual directly identified in the statement was Infantino himself, with UEFA accusing him of failing to uphold the promises he made when he was elected FIFA president in 2016.
Citing Infantino’s own previous remarks that FIFA’s money belonged to its member associations, not to him, and that FIFA was an organization dedicated to serving the development of the game, UEFA argued that he had fallen short of those commitments.
“On both these promises, he has failed to deliver,” the statement said, adding that UEFA’s leadership had “lost confidence” among many soccer associations. UEFA warned that “no option” would be “off the table” as it meets with other confederations to discuss the next steps.
UEFA cannot simply sack Infantino, but it can make his grip on FIFA increasingly fragile by turning Europe’s soccer power bloc against him, the same force that helped kill his $20 billion plan to sell minority stakes in the World Cup.
Joining the pressure campaign against Infantino was CONCACAF, the governing body for soccer associations across North and Central America and the Caribbean. In a statement, the organization called for a “comprehensive reckoning” over his presidency.
“This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behavior,” CONCACAF wrote, according to The Sunday Times.
The Times reported that Infantino could face an emergency FIFA Council meeting where opponents may call for his resignation, with sources telling the outlet that sponsors have begun contacting the organization over concerns about the negative publicity.
If he refuses to step down, rivals are considering rallying behind a single challenger to take him on in next year’s presidential election.
Infantino revealed earlier this week that FIFA planned to sell a 21 percent stake in a newly created entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to private investors to oversee the commercial operations of its biggest events, including the World Cup.
Adding to the controversy, the investor group behind FFE was reportedly set to be led by a firm run by New York venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump and Infantino have maintained a close relationship for years, one neither has made much effort to hide.
Last year, Infantino backed Trump’s bid for the Nobel Peace Prize, and after the president was overlooked, he quickly created an alternative award that was later presented in December, in what The New York Times reported was an apparent effort to strengthen ties ahead of the World Cup in the United States.
The pair’s relationship also came under scrutiny during the World Cup, when FIFA reversed a suspension for one of the U.S. team’s star strikers after Trump reportedly called Infantino, asking for the red-card punishment to be reviewed. The two later appeared together at the final, where they helped present medals to the winning Spanish team.
