US president Donald Trump has warned Fifa would be making a “terrible mistake” if they get rid of Gianni Infantino as the head of world football’s governing body.
The US president called the Italian-Swiss lawyer "fantastic" and said he "presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented".
Infantino, FIFA’s president since 2016, is under significant pressure following his failed Football Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme - which would have seen stakes in the World Cup sold to private investors had the plan not been thwarted. Infantino apologised for his proposal to create Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), a company to run the commercial and operational aspects of Fifa’s tournaments, with an idea to sell off around 20 per cent to private investors. The new arm would have been valued at $20 billion (£14.8 billion).
“Leadership in football is not a possession,” the letter said. “It is not about holding – or demanding – power to be held. It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it. “When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.”
Reporting: ESPN, The Independent, RTÉ, Daily Star, The Guardian, Daily Mail, BBC Sport, GiveMeSport, Sky Sports.