The Strange Campaign to Praise Infantino for Abandoning His Own Plan
As FIFA's president faces a campaign that could end his rule, a small group of beneficiaries is recasting his humiliating retreat as evidence of statesmanship.
By late afternoon on 2 August, Gianni Infantino’s withdrawal of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) was not doing much to contain the crisis. Rebels on FIFA’s 37-member Council are trying to force an extraordinary general meeting before its next scheduled session in November, at which Infantino would be required to explain himself and face demands for an independent investigation. They need 19 Council members to compel that meeting and seem well on the way to securing that.
National associations are also beginning to abandon him in public. The Dutch federation said it saw no future under Infantino and had lost confidence in his leadership. Germany’s DFB had already refused to support his re-election and is now accusing him of acting unilaterally and irresponsibly. England’s FA backed a full review of FIFA’s leadership and governance.
The knives are coming out inside FIFA. Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest, disowned any involvement in FFE and called it “a bad deal for football”. Chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said senior staff had been deceived and described FFE as one man’s project.
These attempts predate FFE, with the Guardian reporting that moves to call the emergency meeting were “already under way” after FIFA lifted Folarin Balogun’s World Cup suspension following several calls involving Donald Trump.
Yet against all of that, a small cluster of federation presidents has chosen an odd line of defense.
They accept Infantino was wrong about FFE.
But they seem to think admitting he was wrong is itself the achievement and is proof that he is fit to remain in office. And much of this campaign feels oddly coordinated.
