Gianni Infantino releases 10-word statement as FIFA boss faces being removed | Football | Sport
Infantino also lost the support of his right-hand man, Carlos Cordeiro, who branded it “a bad deal for football” and resigned in protest. Over the weekend, the penny finally dropped for the 56-year-old, who announced that he would be scrapping the plans. Now, he has taken to Instagram with a short video montage of this summer’s World Cup, alongside a brief statement.
In an interesting choice of words, to say the least, he captioned the post: “This was the FIFA World Cup 2026! We unite – always!”
It comes after UEFA threatened Infantino with legal action over his abandoned World Cup plot and warned him not to destroy any material relating to it, according to The Telegraph.
In a letter sent to Infantino, UEFA said: “UEFA hereby gives formal notice that it is actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints (together, the “proceedings”) arising out of and in connection with the FFE plan proposed by FIFA and all related matters as further described below.
“You and FIFA are required to take immediate steps to identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or FIFA’s possession, custody, or control.
“These obligations arise independently of any internal retention policy you or your organisation maintain and supersede any routine document destruction or deletion policies that would otherwise apply.
“UEFA – as well as other confederations, FIFA member associations and football stakeholders – has strongly condemned the FFE plan in the strongest terms as fundamentally incompatible with the proper governance of football.
“Given that proceedings are reasonably anticipated, you are obliged to preserve all relevant materials (as defined below) with immediate effect.”
The situation leaves Infantino facing a battle to save his job as FIFA president ahead of the next elections in 2027.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the PSG president, has been mooted as a potential challenger to Infantino, although it’s not clear if he will be running in the election.
It’s been reported that several UEFA member nations would back Al-Khelaifi as having the best chance of toppling Infantino.
Legia Warsaw owner Dariusz Mioduski has also been championed by senior federation officials within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Spain, according to talkSPORT.
