The International Football Federation (Federation internationale de football association, FIFA, FIFA) announced a planned campaign to discredit the organization and its president Gianni Infantino, journalist Ben Jacobs said on the social network X, citing a statement from the FIFA press service.
The Telegraph reported that during Infantino’s work as secretary general of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) from 2009 to 2016, a woman whom the newspaper called Infantino’s mistress received a promotion with a salary increase of 30% to 160 thousand Swiss francs per year.
In addition, UEFA paid for the woman’s MBA program at a cost of £45,000 per year.
The then head of UEFA Michel Platini found out about this, and the woman left the organization, but with compensation, which amounted to a six-figure sum.
UEFA confirmed the payment and clarified that the amount of compensation was in accordance with the rules in force at that time, which were subsequently tightened.
FIFA denied all of the above, calling the reports slander.
“Recent reports have included unsubstantiated allegations and deliberately false statements regarding FIFA and its president. There are coordinated attempts by some individuals to undermine the authority of the organization and its leader,” FIFA said.
FIFA noted that it welcomes reasonable criticism. As for Infantino, he devoted more than 30 years to European and world football.
“Where communications are inaccurate or misleading, FIFA intends to respond directly and decisively,” the organization concludes.
Infantino has worked for UEFA since 2000, becoming the organization’s secretary general in 2009 and holding this position until he became FIFA president in 2016.
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