Battle lines drawn within FIFA as key figures break ranks with Infantino

The crisis triggered by FIFA chief Gianni Infantino’s abandoned proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup deepened on Tuesday with influential executives distancing themselves from ​the project while Jordan’s FA president accused him of blackmail. Infantino apologised for how the proposal, which would have brought private investment into the World Cup for the first time, had divided the game, but his once unassailable bastion of power at the top of the global governing body was shattered. FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom sent an internal message to staff lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” that led to the project being “permanently abandoned”, two sources said.

“We have all been thrown into the middle of a turmoil, which is difficult to comprehend and accept,” Grafstrom wrote in the letter without mentioning Infantino by name. “But, as ​Secretary General, I urge you to remain focused on what has always united us: serving football and serving our 211 Member Associations, hand in hand with all relevant stakeholders and in full compliance with the FIFA Statutes and ​FIFA Regulations. “Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go.

The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue, and that is why we should always keep our professionalism, sense ⁠of perspective and composure.” Arsene Wenger, the Chief of Global Football Development at FIFA and technical adviser to soccer’s rule-making body IFAB, said he was not involved in the proposal and only learned about it through media reports. “The decision to withdraw the project ​was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency, and integrity,” Wenger said in a statement. Carlos Cordeiro, senior advisor to Infantino, resigned last week after “unequivocally” opposing the proposal.

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Infantino, meanwhile, has called senior staff ​members to a meeting in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, according to a report in The Times on Tuesday, as he plots a path through the crisis. Jordan FA president Ali bin Hussein accused FIFA of “blackmail” , claiming it offered to help solve many of the kingdom’s problems in exchange for endorsing Infantino.

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