Gianni Infantino’s £22m salary plan before FIFA plot collapsed | Football | Sport

Gianni Infantino was staring down the barrel of a £22.2million salary through FIFA’s Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, only for proposals to be met with backlash. UEFA and the FA wasted no time in condemning the plan, which would see the organisation sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.

Member associations ultimately threatened to boycott the competition should it have been green-lighted. As per the Times, Infantino stood to pocked tens of millions of pounds through the FFE scheme, which has since had a pin put in it. UEFA say that they have lost faith in FIFA’s leadership, despite plans being shut down.

A statement from the European football governing body read: “We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.

“It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again. That review should be thorough and fundamental.

“No option should be off the table. The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence, but also that of many other members of the football family.”

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The English FA also backed UEFA’s position, with a spokesperson for the organisation explaining: “We fully support UEFA’s position. It is time for a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently, for the benefit of all 211 member nations and with the long-term stewardship of football at its heart.”

CONCACAF, meanwhile, has called for a ” comprehensive reckoning” of Infantino’s presidency, writing: “It is a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first. This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour.”

While Infantino maintained that the FFE concept was just a consultation exercise, sources familiar with the scheme claim the true intention was for the FIFA president to assume the role of chief executive or commissioner. This would have secured him an annual salary of approximately £22.2m, excluding bonuses.

FIFA disputes claims that such an arrangement was ever discussed. A statement from Infantino read: “The FFE project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA member associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed.

“And, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the member associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA council, the confederations and wider stakeholders.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.

“Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed. Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”