FIFA President Gianni Infantino responds strongly after being accused of ‘blackmail.’
FIFA President Gianni Infantino is facing serious challenges after being accused of blackmail by the Jordan Football Association’s president.
The pressure on Infantino has grown since the World Cup, especially after Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, the former FIFA vice-president and current Jordan FA chief, said that FIFA is still holding money owed to the Jordan national team. Prince Ali explained that the Jordan FA has not yet received the prize money from the FIFA Arab Cup final last winter.
On social media on Tuesday (August 4), Prince Ali shared that he was told to support Infantino because “it would help our FA a lot.” He also mentioned that Jordanian fans had trouble entering the US for the World Cup matches, even after buying tickets. He said, “We have been waiting for our players’ reward money since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event. The money for reaching the final hasn’t come yet, while FIFA talks about having billions saved. The real problem is the leadership. For months, FIFA has refused to help us on this or other issues. During the World Cup, someone told me that endorsing Infantino would really help our FA. We in Jordan value honesty, so we didn’t support him before and won’t now.”
This controversy comes just days after Infantino dropped plans to sell parts of FIFA competitions to private investors. Many groups, including UEFA and the FA, criticized the idea and called for FIFA’s leadership to be reviewed. FIFA’s head of global football development, Arsène Wenger, called the decision to drop the plan “absolutely necessary.” FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström also criticized the proposal in a message to staff, calling it “difficult to understand and accept.”
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has offered support for Lise Klaveness, the Norway FA chief, as a potential replacement for Infantino.
On Tuesday evening, Sky Sports reported that Infantino has called a crisis meeting for senior FIFA staff in Rabat, Morocco, on Wednesday (August 5). Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol said, “This will be a very tense meeting, and we don’t know how it will end. Will Infantino resign, seeing the loss of support worldwide and inside FIFA? Or will he fight on, saying he still has strong backing, especially from South America, Africa, and Asia?”
Solhekol added, “Being FIFA president requires political skills, and a good leader can tell when they’re losing support and should step down. If Infantino resigns, it will be a sad way for him to leave, but he made a huge mistake with the World Cup sale plan, which many football insiders say will ruin his chances.
Infantino became FIFA president in 2016 and is expected to run for re-election in 2027.