FIFA accuses critics of trying to undermine Infantino

FIFA has accused critics of launching a "concerted and ongoing effort" to undermine its president Gianni Infantino, amid explosive claims that European football’s governing body, UEFA, paid off an alleged mistress while he was its general-secretary.

The allegations surfaced in a German documentary that aired last week, alleging UEFA secretly settled a hush-money claim in 2016 to protect Infantino from a potential scandal. The payments, reported to be around €350,000, were supposedly made to a woman who claimed Infantino had an affair with her. Infantino, who denies the affair, was UEFA’s general-secretary before becoming FIFA president in 2016.

FIFA’s response has been aggressive. A spokesperson called the claims part of a coordinated attack to destabilize Infantino’s leadership, pointing to recent investigations by European prosecutors into potential conflicts of interest during his time at UEFA. Infantino himself has dismissed the allegations as “fake news,” while UEFA has not publicly commented. Swiss authorities are already probing the 2016 payment, though no charges have been filed.

This matters because Infantino’s presidency has been marked by controversy, from his handling of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid to his close ties with authoritarian regimes. FIFA’s defense suggests it sees these claims as part of a broader campaign to weaken its authority before next year’s presidential election. If the allegations gain traction, they could further erode confidence in football’s governing bodies at a time when public trust is already low.