Infantino position remains shaky at best
Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s position remains precarious, despite receiving support from his close friend US President Donald Trump, after three confederations tore into him in a joint letter.
It seems nothing the 56-year-old Swiss has done, from shelving his much-criticized plan to raise private investment to run the commercial side of the World Cup to apologizing for the manner in which it was launched, is enough to assuage his critics.
In effect, they have made plain the problem is him and his style of leadership.
He previously looked a shoo-in to be reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in Rabat next March, but his opponents are circling, sensing he has been fatally weakened by the constant onslaught.
“When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned,” a no-holds-barred letter signed by the presidents of three confederations, Aleksander Ceferin (UEFA), Victor Montagliani (Concacaf) and Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa (AFC), which was released on Monday.
“We (Norwegian Football Federation) are going to ask the Fifa president to resign now,” was what NFF president Lise Klaveness, a consistent critic of Infantino, said in making known what she wants.
“We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values,” Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, president of the Jordanian Football Association who ran against Infantino in 2016, said. “We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now.
“But the whole situation amounts to blackmail, and we refuse to give in to that.”
Even Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, which cohosted the recently concluded World Cup, said his piece: “Certainly I don’t have confidence in Mr. Infantino, after this point, given what transpired.”
Infantino, though, has the support of Mexico, the third co-host of the World Cup won by Spain.
“The FMF (Mexican Football Federation) supports president Infantino’s leadership in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening,” a statement read, which is in contrast to the federations of their fellow hosts, the United States and Canada, who came out in support of the open letter signed by Concacaf on Monday.
