Gianni Infantino has summoned senior FIFA officials for crisis talks in Morocco. The FIFA president, under intense pressure, is trying in Rabat to restore calm inside world football's governing body, according to The Times. Resistance to his policy is growing not only outside FIFA, but within the organisation itself too.
At the heart of the crisis is Infantino's now withdrawn plan to launch a new commercial venture through FIFA Forward Enterprise. It would have held, among other things, the commercial rights to the World Cup and the Club World Cup, before part of it could be sold to private investors. The proposal met fierce resistance and even brought threats of boycotts. Support inside FIFA also proved limited, The Times writes.
Jordan has now made another serious accusation. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, chairman of the Jordan Football Association and a former candidate for the FIFA presidency, has accused the FIFA leadership of 'blackmail'. According to him, it was suggested during the World Cup that backing Infantino's re-election could help resolve various issues the Jordanian association had raised with FIFA.
"For months, FIFA refused to help us with these and other matters," Ali says. During the World Cup, he was then allegedly told verbally that expressing support for Infantino "would go a long way" towards accommodating the Jordanian association. "We did not support him before and we certainly will not do so now. This entire situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to it."
Among other things, Jordan had asked FIFA for help because of problems with American visas for supporters, tax issues around participation in the World Cup and prize money from the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup that still has not been paid out. The accusations from Jordan are piling more pressure on Infantino at a time when his position is already under strain because of the failure of his investment plan.
Arsène Wenger has also now distanced himself clearly from the way events have unfolded. The former Arsenal manager is a senior FIFA official as Chief of Global Football Development, but says he knew nothing about the controversial plan. "I was not involved in this strategic plan and first heard about it through reports in the media." Wenger says withdrawing the plans was "absolutely necessary". FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström has also expressed criticism internally about the recent events.