PL chief blasts Infantino for pressing FIFA’s ‘self-destruct button’

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has accused FIFA President Gianni Infantino of creating a crisis of his own making by pursuing a plan to sell a stake in future World Cup revenues to private investors.

Masters said FIFA should never have considered selling part of the World Cup, arguing that the governing body has a responsibility to protect the tournament for future generations rather than treat it as a commercial asset.

“This is a problem of FIFA’s making,” Masters told BBC Sport. “This is a self-inflicted wound. The organization has pressed the self-destruct button.”

The comments add to mounting pressure on Infantino, who is seeking re-election next year but has faced growing opposition from European football officials and national associations following the collapse of his proposed investment project.

The plan, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise, involved creating a commercial entity that would sell a 20% stake to private investors for about $4.2 billion. The money would have been used in part to provide payments of roughly $20 million to each of FIFA’s 211 member associations.

The proposal triggered a backlash among several of FIFA’s most influential confederations, including UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF. England’s Football Association has also withdrawn its support for Infantino, while Israel became the latest UEFA member association to do so.

Masters said the FA had taken the correct position.

“I don’t think FIFA should be ever contemplating selling off a stake in the World Cup,” he said. “They’re a not-for-profit organization. They should really be holding that competition in trust for the future of football.”

“I think it’s a bad idea, and the FA have taken the right position regards to Gianni.”

The controversy has also exposed divisions within FIFA’s senior administration.

Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, left the organization Monday, just 17 days after publicly criticizing Infantino’s handling of the investment proposal. In a statement released to The Associated Press on July 31, Lamour said FIFA’s administration had been “deceived” over the plan and described it as the project of one person.

Lamour also argued that FIFA employees deserved greater transparency and respect as the organization pursued major commercial changes.

His departure has drawn sharp criticism from senior UEFA officials.

UEFA Vice President Laura McAllister, a former Wales captain who previously worked with Lamour, said his removal sent a deeply troubling message to those seeking reform inside football’s governing institutions.

“Kevin is not only a deeply principled leader who cares passionately for football, but a brave advocate for the values that should underpin all we do as custodians of our game,” McAllister said.

She accused FIFA of weakening its own administration at a moment when the organization should be focusing on governance and sporting values.

“FIFA is not the president, it is the whole football family,” McAllister said.

Norway Football Federation President Lise Klaveness went further, calling Lamour’s departure “management by fear” and saying his removal was unacceptable.

“Now he is thrown out and we are supposed to move on. It’s unacceptable, it’s management by fear,” Klaveness told the AP.

Klaveness described Lamour as the best football administrator she had worked with and urged other FIFA officials to resist decisions they believed were harmful to the sport.

“We also have to call upon FIFA leadership and the administration to not submit to orders you know are not in the interests of football,” she said, specifically mentioning FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström.

Lamour had been closely associated with Infantino for years. The two worked together at UEFA before Lamour later joined Infantino’s campaign for the FIFA presidency in 2016. Lamour moved from UEFA to FIFA two years ago and became responsible for much of the governing body’s operations in Zurich.

His criticism therefore carried particular weight because it came from inside FIFA and from an executive with a long professional relationship with Infantino.

The fallout intensified after Lamour’s statement was followed by the resignation of senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro. Infantino subsequently held a meeting with senior FIFA managers in Rabat, Morocco, without Lamour present.

After the Aug. 5 meeting, FIFA issued a statement acknowledging errors surrounding the investment proposal and said the executives who attended had reaffirmed their support for Infantino.

Klaveness rejected that explanation, saying the meeting reflected a culture in which officials were reluctant to challenge the president.

Infantino had appeared to be in a strong position ahead of FIFA’s presidential election next year, with no serious challenger publicly emerging. The deadline for potential candidates to enter the race is Nov. 18.

Masters suggested that the crisis could create an opening for a candidate promising fundamental reform.

“I think an emerging unity candidate should have on his or her agenda reform of FIFA, and perhaps even reform of the president’s role and how it interacts with those things,” Masters said.

The comments underline how dramatically Infantino’s political position has shifted. What had appeared to be a largely uncontested path toward another term has become a growing debate over FIFA’s governance, the president’s powers and the role of private money in the world’s biggest sporting organization.

FIFA has defended its leadership while thanking Lamour for his two years of service and wishing him well.

DAILYSABAH