In today’s podcast: it has been a turbulent week for the World Cup, beginning with an attempt to promote the tournament on Monday, followed by boycott threats on Tuesday, a dramatic reversal on Wednesday, and repeated denials throughout the rest of the week. Max and the panel examine the latest Fifa controversy and consider whether […]
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Javier Tebas believes Gianni Infantino can no longer remain Fifa president, accusing him of “undermining the fundamental character of football” and demanding major changes within the sport’s governing structure. The La Liga president, a persistent and outspoken opponent of the current Fifa leadership, declared that “Infantino’s period in charge has reached its end” and argued […]
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Friday 7 August Support for Infantino begins to emerge, with Mexico and Argentina joining Africa’s football governing body in backing him. However, opposition also grows as Norway’s football association demands his resignation and files a new ethics complaint covering several issues, including alleged violations of Fifa’s rules on political neutrality. Infantino then travels to Colombia […]
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There are long periods when history appears motionless, followed by brief moments when years of change unfold at once and those in power suddenly become vulnerable. Less than two weeks ago, Gianni Infantino was celebrating on Instagram and condemning critics “behind their pens and papers, behind their screens spreading hate and false rumours” for questioning […]
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“How did you become bankrupt?” one character asks another in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises. “Little by little, and then all at once,” is the answer. Fifa president Gianni Infantino now appears to be undergoing a comparable collapse in his authority. Since assuming control of football’s global governing organisation in 2016, Mr Infantino […]
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Uefa has reinforced its warning that it could withdraw from Fifa-organised competitions, while confirming that it no longer has confidence in Gianni Infantino’s leadership. European football’s governing body said Wednesday evening’s public show of support for Infantino “changes nothing”. It added that it has received no firm guarantees that a crisis like the one seen […]
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1) Divide the governing body into separate units How can the organisation responsible for staging football’s largest tournament also act as the authority that writes and enforces the sport’s rules? The latest World Cup highlighted the problems created by this dual role, with Fifa appearing willing to adjust established regulations on matters such as suspension […]
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Gianni Infantino remains engaged in efforts to secure his position after holding urgent discussions with senior officials in Rabat on Wednesday. The Fifa president, who is facing mounting pressure, has spent the past week in Morocco after joining celebrations for Throne Day, marking 27 years since King Mohammed VI took the throne. He is expected […]
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In the past few decades, Salé, situated across the river from Rabat on Morocco’s Atlantic shoreline, has changed dramatically. At the beginning of the century, it remained a rugged working-class city whose worn historic quarter was convincing enough to portray Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in the film Black Hawk Down. Since then, however, the country’s authoritarian […]
Continue ReadingGianni Infantino’s standing suffered another setback after Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafström, his second-in-command, described the abandoned private investment proposal for the World Cup as a “regrettable and deeply troubling sequence of events”. Further signs that senior figures within Fifa are distancing themselves from Infantino and the unsuccessful initiative emerged on Tuesday morning, when Arsène […]
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