FIFA scraps private investment plans
Donald Trump left Gianni Infantino with egg on his face after FIFA made a U-turn on proposed private investment plans, intensifying calls for the FIFA president to lose his job. FIFA had announced it would welcome investment, telling national associations they would bank a bigger fee if they signed up before a mid-September deadline.
The plans provoked outrage, with UEFA leading the charge against them. In the early hours of Saturday morning, FIFA announced it had scrapped the proposals. The episode has added to scrutiny of Infantino's relationship with Trump, with suggestions that FIFA members have lost confidence in him - a stance exaggerated by that relationship.
Trump denies any knowledge
There were accusations of political interference during the World Cup, and the private investment plans had links to Trump's associates. The £14.8billion commercial subsidiary plan was backed by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, who is the US Special Envoy for Peace and is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka.
When quizzed about the connection, Trump denied any knowledge of the plan and shut down questions. He first replied: "Who?" Then, after being asked further about Infantino's plan, he added: "No, I didn't speak to him."
UEFA and FA call for leadership change
The investment U-turn is one of several problems facing Infantino. UEFA is mobilising ahead of next year's FIFA presidential election, and on Saturday it urged its members to push for a change of leadership.
In a statement, UEFA said: "The current Fifa leadership has not only lost Uefa's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family. When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of Fifa's member associations to elect him as their president in 2016, he said: 'Of course we have to be transparent.' He told the assembled stakeholders: 'The money of Fifa is your money. It's not the money of the Fifa president. You are the national associations and the money of Fifa has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else.' On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back-room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through were anything but transparent."
The English FA backed UEFA's position, saying: "We fully support UEFA's position. It is time for a full and robust review of FIFA's leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently, for the benefit of all 211 member nations and with the long-term stewardship of football at its heart."
