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Gianni Infantino came under more pressure on Friday as the Premier League and three other top European leagues called for FIFA governance reform following a failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup.
A statement co-signed with the top leagues from Spain, Italy and Germany said football had “suffered one of the biggest abuses of power in FIFA’s history.”
It accused FIFA’s president of actively promoting “exploitative ideas rather than safeguarding against them.”
The Premier League is football’s richest and most popular league. Its collaboration with Europe’s other leading leagues adds to the growing pressure on Infantino, who is facing the biggest crisis in his 10 years as FIFA’s chief.
While the leagues did not follow UEFA by specifically calling for Infantino to step down, their statement was highly critical, hitting out at FIFA’s “relentless expansionism.”
“Football’s longstanding foundations have, in recent years, been threatened by a fundamental governance problem,” it said. “Now is the moment to decide not only who will lead FIFA, but also how FIFA should be led.”
It is the latest rift between football leagues and Infantino, whose biggest projects have been seen as attacks on domestic football and were successfully resisted by a backlash from European officials.
The big four leagues also are members of the European Leagues network, which filed a formal complaint against “abusive” FIFA governance standards in 2023 at the European Commission in Brussels.
Despite the backlash over his controversial plan to sell profits in the World Cup through a commercial subsidiary, and losing the support of many national federations, FIFA says Infantino plans to stand him again in next year’s elections for a final term in office through to 2031.
The deadline for candidates to enter the next presidential contest is 18 November, exactly four months ahead of the vote in Morocco.
The leagues in England, Spain, Italy and Germany said they wanted presidential candidates to stand on a manifesto of fundamental reform.
“FIFA’s governance problem goes far beyond the role of one individual. The wider question is whether FIFA’s president should simultaneously wield such regulatory, commercial and political power without effective checks and balances,” they said.
Infantino’s now ditched proposal to create a $20 billion (€17 billion) company called the FIFA Forward Enterprise to run the World Cup with private investors including the Kushner family, caught the football world by surprise when it emerged in July.
The backlash came from both within the sport’s governing body and from other federations, with some declaring they had had lost faith in Infantino as a result.
While he has tried to quell anger, with FIFA apologising for errors and committing to “ensure they do not happen again,” criticism has not gone away.
The group of four leagues provide another critical voice, just days before the influential European Football Clubs group meets in Denmark.
Additional sources • AP