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FIFA President Infantino open to providing ‘greatest level of additional funding’ to associations amid opposition.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is willing to discuss the disbursement of millions of dollars to the member associations of football’s global governing body as the Swiss chief seeks re-election to the post he has held for 10 years amid growing opposition.
The amount of the distributions to individual nations will be on the agenda of the FIFA Council’s October 15 meeting, according to a letter Infantino sent to the heads of the six regional confederations, as reported by media in the United States on Monday.
“I will not prejudge the amount,” Infantino wrote, according to one report. “I will support the greatest level of additional funding that can responsibly be delivered through FIFA’s proper governance process, applied fairly and supported by transparent and auditable arrangements. The ambition is welcome. The financial evidence, governance and implementation must now support it.”
“A single figure can begin the discussion, but it cannot complete a global policy. I have therefore instructed the Secretary General to consolidate all submissions into one integrated assessment for consideration by the FIFA Council.”
The move is seen as Infantino’s latest attempt to placate regional football bodies, as well as their chiefs, in a bid to hold on to his position as the most powerful man in football.
Earlier this month, the 56-year-old confirmed his bid amid widespread criticism of his leadership and the growing threat of legal proceedings.
Infantino has faced stiff opposition since the fallout from his proposed plan to sell approximately 20 percent of a proposed new entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), focused on the commercial and operational facets of the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments.
The Swiss-Italian has been the most powerful man in world football over the past 10 years, but has increasingly lost support from regional football confederations and national associations. Last month, he appeared to be pulling out all the stops in a bid to retain his position, despite growing calls for his ousting and wide-ranging disapproval of his plans.
On Friday, the English Premier League and three other top European leagues called for governance reform of FIFA.
A joint statement with leagues from Spain, Italy and Germany accused Infantino of actively promoting “exploitative ideas rather than safeguarding against them”.
He is seen as a divisive figure in international football, with his close ties to some of the most powerful global leaders and plans for maximising revenue from football viewed as a threat to the game.
With fewer than six months until the next round of elections for FIFA’s presidency, Infantino appears to be losing ground among his usual backers.
FIFA presidents are limited to three terms, each lasting four years.
However, in 2022, Infantino successfully argued that his first spell in charge, which began when he was elected at an extraordinary FIFA Congress in 2016 following Sepp Blatter’s resignation, should not count towards that limit because it completed an interrupted mandate.
His plans to run for a fourth term have been questioned by critics and rights groups, who have asked FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC) to block the re-election bid.
The financial discussion comes in the wake of UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC calling for Infantino to resign over the plan.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF’s Victor Montagliani recently wrote a letter to FIFA, seeking payments such as the one Infantino addressed in his letter. Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, head of the Asian Football Confederation, made a similar request, per the reports.
Among the investors in FFE was to be Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump is a close ally of Infantino.
Infantino subsequently abandoned the private equity plan, but he has refused to resign, and he plans to run for re-election in March. With seven weeks remaining for candidates to announce their intention to oppose Infantino, no challenger has stepped forward.
Had Infantino’s FFE plan gone through, each member nation would have received at least $20m. The letter from UEFA and CONCACAF asks for every member association to receive a minimum of $10m from FIFA’s reserves, according to the reports.
