FIFA president Gianni Infantino landed in Morocco for a pivotal emergency meeting as scrutiny over his leadership intensified, with former Portugal star Luis Figo becoming the latest major football figure to urge him to step down.
Infantino called senior FIFA officials to the city of Sale for urgent crisis discussions after details emerged last week of a controversial proposal to sell £3.1billion worth of stakes linked to the World Cup.
The Swiss administrator has now abandoned the plan following fierce backlash, including significant resistance from within FIFA’s own ranks.
The pressure escalated further when Jordan FA president Prince Ali bin Hussein accused Infantino of blackmail, marking the first open revolt by an Asian nation against the FIFA president.
Jordan’s opposition made it the 91st member association to move against Infantino, provided all UEFA and CONCACAF countries follow the positions taken by their confederations. A total of 106 nations would be required to remove him from the presidency.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino arrived in Sale, Morocco, on Wednesday for an emergency meeting
Infantino is under growing pressure following the collapse of his proposal to sell stakes connected to the FIFA World Cup
Luis Figo has joined calls for Infantino to resign, while Arsene Wenger has moved to distance himself from the FIFA president’s plans
A car carrying Infantino was seen arriving at FIFA’s Africa regional office in Sale on Wednesday.
The meeting comes hours after Figo became the latest major name in football to demand his resignation.
In an explosive piece for Daily Mail Sport, which will further ramp up the pressure on the under-fire FIFA chief, the Portuguese legend described his now aborted World Cup sell-off as the ‘lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed’ and a ‘grubby, underhand plot’.
Across 600 no-holds-barred words Figo, who had initially backed Infantino in 2015, brands the disgraced exec a ‘relic who should have no part in football’s future’ and accuses him of ‘a litany of abuses’, also referencing the now-infamous suspension of the ban behind Folarin Balogun’s red card and the half-time show at the World Cup final which ‘broke the laws of the game’.
‘Infantino has debased the office of FIFA President that he promised to elevate,’ the former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan star writes. ‘He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve.’
Figo, now 53, is viewed by many as a potential successor to Aleksandr Ceferin, head of UEFA which is leading the war against Infantino.
Figo and Jordan’s Prince Ali had both previously stood against former FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the 2015 elections.
Figo ultimately withdrew from the process, while Prince Ali pulled out after the second round of voting. Blatter announced his resignation four days after re-election amid a vast backlash.
Infantino is facing his own backlash following his World Cup plans, with FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour saying he was ‘deceived’ by the project and others, including chief of global football development Arsene Wenger, have distanced themselves from the hastily dropped plan.
Figo branded Infantino as a ‘relic who should have no part in football’s future’ in an explosive article for Daily Mail Sport
Figo, who had initially backed Infantino in 2015, claimed the Swiss official has ‘debased the office of FIFA President’
With morale among staff said to be ‘rock bottom’ according to insiders, secretary general Mattias Grafstrom sent an internal email to staff citing ‘a sad and reproachable series of events’ and perhaps tellingly pointing out that ‘individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go’.
Figo, a former FIFA presidential candidate, starts: ‘I could write 10,000 words on the problems at FIFA. But the solution needs only three: Infantino must go.’
He adds: ‘I have loved football all my life. I was a professional player for 20 years. And believe me, I have met some rogues in my time in the game. But what I have seen exposed in the last ten days is the lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed. The man who would do that – the man who would try to force through such major changes just to enrich himself and his friends – is a relic of the game’s past and should have no part in its future.’
The Portuguese, who won 127 caps for his country, then rounds on Infantino for a lack of transparency. ’If it was such a good idea, why not tell your members when you had them all in a room before the World Cup Final?’ he asks.
‘If it was such a robust plan, why not tell your members the risks as well as what you describe as the benefits?
‘If the scheme was a no-brainer, why not be honest about the fact that it was going to give you a $30m a year job at the end of it?’
Figo adds: ‘None of this was done. Because it’s not a good idea. It’s not robust when you fail to be transparent about the crippling returns that private equity always seek.
‘It’s not bold when you fail to explain that once you have sold your share it is gone forever and you have disinherited your successors from ownership of the World Cup.
FIFA legends have reportedly declined to publicly support Infantino amid the backlash to his plans
‘And it’s not honest when you fail to mention that, after you have delivered the head of the World Cup on a platter to your mates in DC, they are going to give you a job worth five times your current salary.’
Figo then highlights FIFA’s staggering level of wealth, asking how many shares the $5billion in its reserves ‘could buy in this grubby, underhand plot’.
‘Infantino has debased the office of FIFA President that he promised to elevate,’ he writes. ‘He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve…he should go. Now.’
According to The Times, allies of Infantino had been trying to persuade ‘FIFA legends’ to publicly support Infantino, but have been unsuccessful.
The FIFA legends are among former international players who have been paid to appear at the governing body’s events.
