FIFA President Gianni Infantino was forced to withdraw his ‘FIFA Forward Enterprise’ project, a privatisation strategy for the World Cup which would have led to a big payday for Infantino.
Infantino is under major pressure after his plans for the FFE collapsed in the face of massive backlash from member confederations.
With the plan being forced to stand down, whistleblowers are claiming to reveal details on how this would have personally enriched Infantino.
Whistleblowers claim Gianni Infantino was eyeing a $30 million salary for FFE
Martyn Zeigler of The Times, who was the first to reveal Infantino’s plans for the FFE project, has revealed that whistleblowers have told him that Infantino eyed a $30 million salary plus bonuses to lead the new commercial entity.
Despite being a non-profit, FIFA pays its President a 4.8 million Swiss franc salary. That’s a rich figure, but Infantino was allegedly eyeing a much bigger payday through his plans of privatising the World Cup.
Infantino publicly claimed that he would not personally enrich himself from the project, but Zeigler’s whistleblowers have made the exact opposite assertion.
This deal has already been blasted by UEFA as a ‘shabby, back-room deal’ and an attempt to ‘sell football’. As a result, UEFA is now pushing for a leadership change at FIFA.
Infantino’s plans would have given each FIFA member association upwards of $20 million as a one-time developmental investment, but despite that allure, most confederations opposed this plan as a united front and got Infantino to scrap it.
If it went through, it’s hard to see Infantino ever relinquishing power in FIFA, personally enriching himself and his partners, who would use their financial stake to protect his position.
Most member nations would also be allied with Infantino after receiving their first payment, so it might have been the best thing for this plan to get leaked and shut down before it could even be formally proposed.
