Rui Pinto Says Gianni Infantino Has No Place in Football's Future

The hacker whose leaked files prompted the Premier League inquiry into Manchester City believes Gianni Infantino should not be involved in football’s future.

City were found to have violated Premier League financial regulations across nine years. The club continues to reject any wrongdoing and has until 2 October to lodge an appeal.

The Premier League opened its inquiry after material published by the Football Leaks platform in 2018 appeared in the German magazine Der Spiegel. The case also followed a separate investigation by European football authority Uefa.

In a post on X, external link, Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto repeated claims first made in 2018 that Infantino stepped in to help City and Paris St-Germain avoid Uefa sanctions under financial fair play rules.

A Der Spiegel report, external link alleged that the clubs inflated the value of sponsorship agreements to comply with financial fair play requirements. The leaked documents also claimed that Infantino helped secure lighter penalties for them in 2014 when sanctions were being considered.

At the time, PSG said it had always complied fully with the laws and regulations established by sporting authorities and denied the accusations.

The club also said Paris St-Germain had been subjected to an exceptional level of auditing and scrutiny since financial fair play was introduced.

Writing on Wednesday, 37-year-old Portuguese national Pinto said Infantino had already known about alleged irregularities involving Manchester City in 2014.

Pinto accused Infantino, who was Uefa’s general secretary at the time, of misusing his position and distributing confidential material. He claimed Infantino bypassed the investigative chamber and sought to ensure that Manchester City and PSG received only financial penalties rather than facing a more extensive inquiry that could have resulted in exclusion from the Champions League.

He added that Football Leaks had previously brought all of those details to public attention.

Referring to Infantino’s conduct as Uefa general secretary and later as head of world football’s governing organisation, Pinto said he believed Infantino had become deeply harmful to the sport and should play no role in its future.

When the claims initially emerged, Uefa said assisting with such issues fell within the general secretary’s responsibilities. It explained that this could involve discussions, meetings, help in identifying solutions and other contact intended to support the investigating body’s work.

Infantino likewise said his role required him to hold talks and exchange documents, drafts and ideas across a wide variety of subjects.

He argued that portraying those activities as improper left him with little option beyond continuing to perform his duties honestly and professionally while protecting football’s interests.

Infantino has faced mounting criticism following the abandonment of his proposal to sell ownership stakes connected to the World Cup.

Uefa accused Infantino of criminal mismanagement in relation to the Forward Enterprise scheme, while the Swiss Football Association became the latest national body to withdraw its backing for him.

The Swiss association said its decision followed a detailed review of developments during the preceding months.

It added that several incidents had created serious concerns about leadership, governance, transparency and internal decision-making within world football’s governing organisation.

Uefa and the global governing organisation both have their headquarters in Switzerland.

Infantino is expected to seek a fourth term in an election scheduled for March 2027. His opponents have until 18 November to put forward another candidate.