Infantino also leads Fifa as an enlightened monarch, following the principles of divide and conquer

In the four-part documentary series FIFA exposed (2022) by British director Daniel Gordon, which can be seen on Netflix, former Fifa media director Guido Tognoni is asked if he thinks it is possible that corruption in Fifa will ever be left behind. He thought for a moment, then said, “If you ask this, you must also ask yourself if the world will ever turn away from corruption. The answer is no.’

FIFA exposed gives little hope that Tognoni will be wrong, even under Gianni Infantino. In 2016, he succeeded resigning President Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter. During his seventeen-year reign, Blatter had transformed the World Football Association into a smooth-running slot machine that closely resembled a criminal organization.

In fact, Michel Platini, the president of the European football association UEFA, was destined to succeed Blatter in 2016. Until it became known that the former French footballer had illegally accepted two million Swiss francs from Blatter and that he was suspended for four years.

Strategy and persuasiveness

Subsequently, Gianni Infantino, the general secretary of UEFA, became Europe’s candidate for the highest job in football. After a global campaign, he was surprisingly elected in February 2016 over Sheikh Salman of Bahrain. That says a lot about Infantino’s sense of strategy and persuasion: Sheikh Salman was the heavy favorite beforehand.

“We will restore respect for Fifa. We will build a new FIFA,” Infantino promised in his acceptance speech.

Gianni Vincenzo Infantino is the son of Italian guest workers in Switzerland, he was born in Brig in 1970, studied law in Friborg and joined UEFA in 2000. His wife is Lebanese, Infantino is fluent in Italian, Spanish , French, German, English, Portuguese and Arabic.

Infantino is well rewarded by Fifa: he earns more than a million and a half euros per year, plus emoluments: a car and an apartment. In 2016, he introduced a maximum term for the president of twelve years, meaning he can remain in charge until 2028.

Ambitious proposals

After taking office in 2016, the Swiss immediately presented two ambitious proposals: to increase the number of countries participating in the final tournament of a World Cup from 32 to 48 and to shorten the World Cup cycle from four to two years. . It took little effort to get the first idea across: member states from Africa, Oceania and Asia saw their chances of participating in the World Cup increase.

His second idea was more complicated, it met with great resistance, especially from UEFA and the South American football association Conmebol. They have seen their own country’s tournament revenue threatened.

However, Infantino is tenacious and regularly revives the plan. He knows that the vote in Fifa is in his favor and that with a biannual World Cup he is doing a service to both Fifa and himself: billions in additional income and the support of football countries in outside of Europe and South America.

The first doubts about Infantino’s true intentions emerged in November 2018, when he presented the plan for two major competitions, a World Cup for clubs with 24 participants and a global version of the Nations League, within of the Fifa Council – the highest body within the body. Chinese, American and Saudi investors have guaranteed FIFA $25 billion under a 12-year deal in return for a 50% stake in the joint venture to be formed with FIFA, which owns the tournaments.

To whip the big penny

Not everyone liked the fact that Infantino was willing to sell major tournament rights for big bucks. But Infantino knows again that outside of the former footballing strongholds of Europe and South America, there are many countries behind the plans.

The project to now award the World Cup to regions rather than countries also comes from his sleeve. This resulted in Canada, the United States and Mexico as host countries for the 2026 World Cup. It is not yet known where the 2030 World Cup will take place, but the choice will in any case say a lot about the morality and FIFA’s learning ability under Infantino: the unlikely trio Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia are among the candidates.

Has FIFA become a different organization under Infantino?

In November 2021, it turned out that he owned an apartment in Qatar, but it’s not forbidden. He was previously accused of defending Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain against the Financial Fair Play rules he set himself. His name appeared in the Panama Papers and he turned out to have a generous expense account. Last year, Michel Platini filed a complaint against him for alleged conspiracy around the 2016 presidential election.

Small beer

Compared to the practices of his predecessor and his clique, it’s still small beer for the moment.

Sepp Blatter was a megalomaniac administrator who saw himself winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Infantino is showing symptoms of the same disease. He sees football as a way to stop the African exodus and last week at the G20 called for a ceasefire in Ukraine during the World Cup. This indicated a curious view of reality, which also explains Infantino’s blind spot for the controversy surrounding the 2022 World Cup.

The problem is that Gianni Infantino runs the biggest, richest and most powerful sports association in the world and is therefore the kingpin of a billion dollar bullet. Despite his promise to make Fifa more transparent and democratic, he still rules as an enlightened monarch on the principles of divide and rule.

This makes him both vulnerable and powerful: whoever has Infantino in his pocket owns football.