Gianni Infantino takes drastic action as FIFA president accused of 'blackmail'

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has taken drastic action after being accused of blackmail by the Jordan FA’s president.

Pressure continues to grow on Infantino following the World Cup, with former FIFA vice-president and current Jordan FA chief Prince Ali bin Al Hussein effectively accusing the Swiss official of withholding money owed to the Jordan national team.

Prince Ali claimed the Jordan Football Association was still owed money by FIFA for reaching the final of the FIFA Arab Cup last winter.

Posting on social media on Tuesday (August 4), Prince Ali said he was told to endorse Infantino as “it would go a long way to helping our FA out”.

He also explained how Jordanian fans experienced major issues entering the US despite purchasing tickets for the Middle Eastern nation’s World Cup matches, adding: “We have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event.

"The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve. It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters – until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino, it would go a long way to helping our FA out. We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now.”

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This comes just days after Infantino was forced to withdraw plans to sell stakes in FIFA competitions to private investors.

The plan was condemned globally, with UEFA and the FA among the organisations calling for a review of FIFA’s leadership.

FIFA chief of global football development Arsène Wenger also said the “decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question”.

FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström also voiced his opposition to the World Cup sell-off plan, describing recent events as "difficult to comprehend and accept" in an internal staff message.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has pledged support for Norway FA chief Lise Klaveness to replace Infantino.

Gianni Infantino calls FIFA crisis meeting

On Tuesday evening, Sky Sports reported that Infantino has asked senior FIFA staff to attend what has been described as a crisis meeting in Rabat, Morocco on Wednesday (August 5).

Kaveh Solhekol told Sky Sports News: “This is going to be a very, very tense meeting. We don't know how it's going to end up.

“What is his stance going to be at this meeting? Is he going to throw in the towel and say, 'I can read the room. I can feel which way the wind is blowing. I'm losing support all over the world. I'm losing support inside FIFA as well. I'm going to do the honourable thing and resign.'

“Or is he going to say, 'I fight on. I'm the FIFA president. If you want me to leave, you're going to have to take me down. And I still believe that I have significant support around the world, especially in South America, Africa and Asia.'

“To get to the top of FIFA, you need to be a politician. And if you're a politician, surely you have some instincts. You can sense that you are losing support. You can sense that your position is untenable.

“You sense that you have to do the right thing and resign. Of course, it's going to be in terrible circumstances and he's going to resign in disgrace. If he does decide to resign, this is not the way he would have liked to go out.

“But he's made a cataclysmic error of judgement. And it was not just one quick decision that he got wrong. What we know is that he was plotting with some people close to him for quite a long time to sell off a stake in the World Cup to private investors.

“I haven't spoken to anybody who knows how FIFA works and how football politics works who thinks that Infantino can survive.”

Infantino, who has been FIFA president since 2016, is due to run for re-election next year.