FIFA is facing a campaign of opposition directed at its controversial president, Gianni Infantino. The international governing body confirmed that there are “concerted and sustained efforts” aiming to undermine both the organization and its president. Simultaneously, FIFA strongly dismissed these attacks, rejecting accusations as “unfounded claims” and “demonstrably false,” while urging that mere speculation should not be presented as fact.
Infantino has recently come under increasing scrutiny from UEFA and European football associations, largely due to the failure of his FIFA Forward enterprise proposal. This initiative was designed to establish a new company responsible for managing commercial and ticket rights, with plans to sell 21 percent of the operation to a private investment firm.
UEFA has stated that it has lost confidence in Infantino. The European governing body continued to threaten a boycott of FIFA events and highlighted that no guarantees had been received that the FFE plan would not be revived later on.
In its defense, FIFA maintained that Infantino holds his position by a “democratic mandate” elected by the member associations. While the opposition to Infantino is predominantly centered in Europe, support for him has been expressed by the Mexican Football Association and CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation.
