FIFA has hit back at what it describes as a “concerted and ongoing effort” to undermine the organisation and its president, Gianni Infantino.
The intervention comes after a report by The Daily Telegraph alleged that a woman described in the report as Infantino’s lover received a severance payment from Uefa following an alleged affair during his time as the organisation’s general secretary.
A FIFA spokesperson told the newspaper that Infantino “strongly denies” the allegations and said they were “categorically untrue”.
In a statement issued on Saturday, FIFA rejected what it described as “unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims”, warning that “speculation and insinuation should not be presented as fact”.
The dispute comes as Infantino faces growing opposition from Uefa and several European football associations over his controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.
The plan, which has since been abandoned, would have established a new company to oversee FIFA’s commercial and ticketing rights, with a 21% stake potentially sold to a private investment firm.
Uefa has said it has lost confidence in Infantino, while Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness called on the Swiss-Italian to resign on Friday.
European football’s governing body has also maintained that a potential boycott of FIFA events remains an option, saying it has yet to receive guarantees that the FFE proposal cannot be brought back in the future.
“The FIFA president was democratically elected by FIFA’s Member Associations and continues to serve with their mandate,” FIFA said.
“It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its president.
“Those who do not have the support of FIFA’s member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through FIFA’s established democratic processes.”
Opposition to Infantino has so far been concentrated largely in Europe, while several other regions have publicly backed the FIFA president.
The Mexican Football Federation has broken ranks with Concacaf by expressing its support for Infantino. It also backed a position taken by South American governing body Conmebol, which said any attempt to remove him should require a vote involving all 211 FIFA member associations.
Infantino also has the unanimous backing of the 54 member nations of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
FIFA Warns Against Misleading Reporting
Infantino held a meeting with members of the FIFA management board in Rabat, Morocco, on Wednesday as the dispute over his leadership continued.
FIFA subsequently released a joint statement on behalf of Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, apologising for the FFE proposal while warning that the organisation would “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process”.
Saturday’s statement continued that combative stance, arguing that opposition to FIFA’s proposed changes should not be used to challenge Infantino’s mandate.
“Change inevitably challenges established interests, but disagreement with that change cannot justify efforts to undermine the democratic mandate of FIFA’s president or the institution he was elected to lead,” it said.
“FIFA welcomes legitimate scrutiny. But scrutiny is not a licence to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations or manufacture distractions designed to undermine progress.
“Where reporting is inaccurate or misleading, FIFA will challenge it directly and vigorously.”
