Gianni Infantino’s selling football’s soul with World Cup plan – shifty Fifa chief needs stopping before it gets worse

“WE will restore the image and respect of Fifa, and everyone in the world will applaud us.” So said Gianni Infantino when he replaced the disgraced Sepp Blatter as president a little over ten years ago. Gianni Infantino wants to sell off a chunk of the World Cup Credit: PA Infantino, 56, has become increasingly chummy with Donald Trump Credit: PA How’s that working out? At the time, his colleagues considered him a good egg, a safe pair of hands to guide Fifa back towards the light after the corruption scandals of the previous regime. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! Now, it’s quite clear he is more dangerous than bungling Blatter ever was. He spent months sucking up to Donald Trump and, lo and behold, a plan emerged to sell off a huge stake in the World Cup, with the lead investor being a member of… the Trump family. Now Fifa’s 211 members have until September 19 to vote through his scheme, and if they go along with it they’ll receive £15million straight off the bat. The message is clear: “Make us rich and we’ll make you rich.” Miguel Maduro, the former chair of Fifa’s governance committee, even went so far as to describe it as a “legalised bribe”. Just when you think it’s impossible to have a greater contempt for Infantino, after six weeks of him gurning ridiculously on our TV screens, he sinks even lower. Most read in Football BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS Infantino is at war with Uefa counterpart Aleksander Ceferin Credit: PA The shameless Fifa chief, who went on a weird social media rant earlier this week slamming his haters, might be dressing it up as a plan to help smaller footballing nations. But when the shifty Swiss is the one pulling the levers, it’s impossible not to suspect there is another agenda at play. After all, he’s just spent six weeks rubbing shoulders with billionaire business leaders and sports commissioners in the US who earn ten or 20 times as much as he does. When his embarrassing brown-nosing campaign with Trump began, it was sickening but on the whole it appeared harmless enough. Anyone of sound body and mind will have seen the inaugural ‘Peace Prize’, gifted to Trump at the World Cup draw ceremony, for what it was. He has been worming his way into the US President’s inner circle and as the two men have become chummier and chummier, the murkier their relationship has become. It looked like we’d reached rock bottom during the World Cup, when Trump picked up the phone to his old mucker and asked him to rescind Folarin Balogun’s red card. Infantino insists Trump’s intervention had nothing to do with the decision to suspend the suspension, trampling all over the integrity of the game in the process, but no one is buying it. As enjoyable as large parts of the World Cup were, there was a ­suffocating, corporate Americanisation to the whole tournament that began to wear thin. But if Infantino’s plan is waved through, it will only get worse. He might claim that Fifa will retain all management of the World Cup but the billionaire investors will undoubtedly have an influence on how things are run. They’re not doing it for the good of the game, they’re doing it to make money — and once Infantino opens the door to external investment, it’s the first step on a slippery slope. It will mean hydration breaks become the norm at Fifa tournaments, so the football essentially turns into a game of four quarters, to create lucrative additional ad breaks. The already bloated World Cup will be expanded to 64 teams, no matter how much of a knock-on effect it has on the quality of football or the welfare of players. Again to grow revenue. You wouldn’t put it past them trying to make the tournament an annual event — and the Club World Cup will no doubt be up for expansion, too. Fifa and Infantino have gradually chipped away at the soul of the greatest sporting event on the planet, and this sell-out will destroy it for good. The associations with the power to do something about it need to show some backbone and stop him in his tracks. Uefa’s 55 members threatening to boycott the World Cup, after their crisis meeting, is a good start. Uefa statement in full UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions UEFA and its 55 member associations stand as one. We unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors. The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale. It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game. This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football. National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football’s greatest competitions or bear the consequences. This is not a “democratic decision”, but governance by intimidation – an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game. But our opposition goes far beyond process. The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in FIFA competitions, football changes forever. Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure. From that moment onwards, every decision on the international calendar, every decision on competition formats and every decision shaping the future of football is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders. This model has no place in world football. Football’s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return. Nor can the interests of national associations, leagues, clubs, players and supporters become subordinate to investor returns. Football cannot mortgage its future for financial gain. Europe’s position is clear. We will never lend this model our legitimacy. No one has the moral authority to sell what they merely hold in trust for the next generation. As a result of today’s discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership. Nobody should be in any doubt: UEFA and its national associations will oppose these plans with absolute determination. There are moments when institutions are judged not by what they are prepared to accept, but by what they refuse to compromise. This is one of those moments. Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale. Comment now