FIFA president Gianni Infantino is under fresh scrutiny after Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali bin Hussein made stunning allegations against the world football’s governing body of attempted
“blackmail” and alleged it withheld prize money owed to his federation.
The explosive claims come as Infantino is already facing scrutiny over the collapse of a controversial proposal to open the FIFA World Cup to private investment, adding to growing questions over his leadership ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Prince Ali, who unsuccessfully challenged for the FIFA presidency twice, said the Jordan FA is still waiting to receive prize money for finishing runners-up at last year’s FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar. He also criticised FIFA over visa issues that prevented several Jordanian supporters with valid match tickets from attending the recent World Cup in the United States and claimed Jordan’s World Cup earnings are being taxed by the “US government through FIFA.”
Most significantly, Prince Ali alleged that support for Infantino’s leadership was tied to assistance for the Jordan FA.
“We have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event,” Prince Ali, also a former FIFA vice-president, said in a statement on social media. “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 did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that.”
Prince Ali previously lost to Sepp Blatter in the 2015 FIFA presidential election before finishing third behind Infantino and Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa the following year.
Infantino, who replaced Blatter as FIFA president in 2016, had been widely expected to secure a fourth term next March. However, his position has become increasingly uncertain in the wake of the failed private investment proposal.
The backlash has also spread across Europe, with several UEFA member associations including Wales, Finland, Sweden and Serbia withdrawing their letters of support for Infantino. The English FA is also strongly rumoured to be considering the same move, further intensifying pressure on the FIFA president.
With AFP Inputs
