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Gianni Infantino’s future as president of football’s governing body is in serious doubt after he pulled the plug on a divisive plan to spin out a new commercial entity from Fifa and sell a stake to investors.
Infantino, who has led the Swiss-based non-profit for a decade, announced he was ditching the investment scheme late on Friday night, saying it had “created divisions” within football that undermined the plan’s objectives.
That climbdown came after days of intense criticism, with 55 European countries vowing to boycott all Fifa competitions until the plan was dropped.
But, while the U-turn may take some of the heat out of the situation, it has left Infantino under pressure. “He has to leave. Enough is enough,” said a senior football official.
European football’s governing body Uefa said on Saturday it had “lost confidence” in the current Fifa leadership, adding: “We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.”
It accused those behind the plan of trying to force through a “shabby, back room, opaque deal” and welcomed its demise.
“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story,” Uefa said. “The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in Fifa has only just begun.”
England’s football association called for a “full and robust review of Fifa’s leadership and governance”.
Concacaf, which runs the game in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, said on Saturday that the investment plan was a “unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership” that followed a “pattern of mis-steps and similar behaviour”.
“A full review of this leadership must now take place,” it said, adding that the game belongs “in the hands of football, not a single individual”.
On Friday Infantino insisted that he intended to stay put. “Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game,” he said.
Some expect him to battle through to next year’s presidential election, in which until recently he was widely expected to be unopposed. During the World Cup, his candidacy was endorsed by the vast majority of Fifa’s 211 members.
“He will probably cling on as long as possible, hoping he can ride it out,” said one former Fifa official. “A lack of unified opposition will play in his favour.”
Infantino will rely on his record to support his case. During his decade in charge, Fifa has increased annual payments to members from $250,000 to $2mn, helping him to build a broad base of support, especially among smaller nations.
The football confederations representing Africa, South America and Oceania did not express any objections to the commercial spinout, merely saying they would study the proposals with their members.
The abandoned investment plan was billed as the next step in that process of handing more money to members. It would have increased annual payments to $5mn, and come with an initial one-off payment of $20mn, which Infantino said would help football to grow in the places that need funding the most.
Infantino also won plaudits for increasing revenue at Fifa. The four-year cycle ending with last month’s World Cup will generate at least $15bn for the governing body, up from $7.6bn in the previous four years.
But this week has been bruising.
“Fifa and football are bigger than Gianni Infantino. He has become a danger for our game and simply must go,” said Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe.
Victor Montagliani, president of Concacaf, has been tipped as a possible contender who could challenge Infantino in the upcoming election. The deadline for candidates to declare is in November.
Even if Infantino remains in place, his ability to push through any changes — such as expanding the World Cup to 64 teams — will be severely compromised.
Uefa said it would work on a “thorough and fundamental” review into what happened, and devise a plan to prevent it happening again. “No option should be off the table,” it said.
Source:
www.ft.com
