PARIS: FIFA on Saturday (Aug 8) condemned “a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine” the world game’s governing body and its president Gianni Infantino as the controversy over his now-shelved private investment plan rumbles on.
Infantino has faced calls to resign and was also subject to allegations from a British newspaper on Friday that he paid off a lover while at European governing body UEFA.
“Recent reporting has included unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims concerning FIFA and its President,” said the FIFA statement.
Infantino served as secretary general of European football’s governing body from 2009 to 2016.
According to The Telegraph newspaper, the Italian-Swiss lawyer previously used his influence to secure a promotion for a UEFA employee with whom he was in an intimate relationship.
The newspaper added – without revealing its sources – that the same employee received a “six-figure sum” upon her departure in addition to the payment of tuition fees for a business school amounting to around £45,000 (US$60,700).
When contacted by AFP, UEFA acknowledged that “a departure payment was made to the individual in question” at that time, “coupled with the payment of fees for an MBA course at a local business school”.
“GROWING PRESSURE”
In Saturday’s statement on social media, FIFA insisted it “welcomes legitimate scrutiny”.
“But scrutiny is not a licence to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations or manufacture distractions designed to undermine progress. Where reporting is inaccurate or misleading, FIFA will challenge it directly and vigorously,” it added.
Infantino, who is standing for re-election next March, has been embroiled in a crisis since the announcement late last month of his controversial – and ultimately abandoned – plan to open up the World Cup to private investors.
He faces opposition in particular from UEFA, which on Thursday stood by its threat to boycott the World Cups, deeming the mere withdrawal of the controversial plan to be insufficient.
FIFA said Saturday it “will not support, facilitate or tolerate any process concerning the election of the FIFA President that is inconsistent with FIFA’s Statutes, democratic procedures and established governance framework”.
The statement added: “Those who do not have the support of FIFA’s Member Associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through FIFA’s established democratic processes.”
