Gianni Infantino is facing the biggest crisis of his decade-long FIFA presidency with senior figures publicly distancing themselves, a former FIFA presidential rival levelling explosive blackmail allegations and World Cup host cities reportedly still waiting on millions in promised funding.
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The FIFA president has been under intense pressure since abandoning plans to sell a stake in a new commercial entity that would have controlled the World Cup and Club World Cup, following fierce backlash from UEFA and football associations around the world.
The proposal, which valued the new FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) at around US$20 billion and sought private investment worth up to US$4.2 billion, collapsed within days after UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA competitions, including the men’s World Cup.
The fallout intensified on Tuesday when former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development since 2019, publicly backed the decision to scrap the proposal.
“The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question,” Wenger said, adding he had not been involved in developing the plan.
The criticism was followed by an extraordinary internal email from FIFA secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom, obtained by AFP, in which one of Infantino’s closest collaborators described the episode as “a sad and reproachable series of events.”
“Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go,” Grafstrom wrote.
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“The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue.”
The comments have fuelled growing speculation Infantino has lost the confidence of senior figures inside FIFA just months before he seeks re-election for what would be a fourth and final term in March. Reports claim he has now called a crisis meeting with FIFA staff in Morocco.
Several UEFA member associations, including Wales, Finland, Sweden and Serbia, have already withdrawn their letters supporting Infantino’s re-election, while England is reportedly considering following suit.
Although FIFA has shelved the investment proposal, UEFA is continuing to explore legal action over what it labelled a “shabby, backroom, opaque deal”, with lawyers instructing FIFA to preserve all documents and communications relating to the FFE plan.
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JORDANIAN FA CHIEF ACCUSES FIFA OF ‘BLACKMAIL’
The pressure on Infantino intensified further on Tuesday after Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali bin Hussein accused FIFA of attempting to pressure his federation into supporting the embattled president’s re-election campaign.
Prince Ali, who unsuccessfully challenged both Sepp Blatter and Infantino for the FIFA presidency, claimed Jordan was verbally told that endorsing Infantino “would go a long way” towards resolving several outstanding issues involving the federation.
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Those included unpaid prize money from Jordan’s run to last year’s FIFA Arab Cup final, visa issues that prevented supporters from attending the country’s World Cup matches in the United States despite holding tickets, and concerns over taxation on the nation’s World Cup prize money.
“We have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event,” Prince Ali wrote in a statement.
“The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve.
“It is clear the problem really is with leadership.
“For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out.
“We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. The whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that.”
HOST CITIES STILL WAITING FOR PROMISED PAYMENTS
Further questions have also emerged over FIFA’s financial commitments, with multiple United States host cities reportedly still waiting on promised legacy payments following last year’s World Cup.
According to The Athletic, officials from several host cities say FIFA executives repeatedly assured them they would each receive US$1 million in funding to support football infrastructure and community projects.
The report claims the commitments were made verbally by senior FIFA officials during meetings with host city committees but have never been paid, prompting several cities to seek updates from FIFA.
The issue reportedly resurfaced after Infantino announced identical US$1 million legacy payments for host cities involved in the 2025 Club World Cup.
Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, Boston and New York/New Jersey were among the North American cities that hosted matches during the expanded 48-team World Cup.
The reported dispute comes despite FIFA generating record revenues of around US$15 billion across the 2023-26 commercial cycle, adding another layer of scrutiny to Infantino as pressure continues to mount on his leadership.