French football great Michel Platini says FIFA president Gianni Infantino “must go” following the scandals that have surrounded football’s governing body and rocked the sport globally. The 56-year-old Infantino has been under fire since his aborted plan to bring private investment into FIFA events, such as the World Cup. He was also lambasted over a number of controversies during the recently concluded World Cup in North America.
Platini hit out at the so-called hydration breaks at the World Cup, which often lasted as much as four minutes and were used by the host broadcaster for advertisements. He also pointed to the half-time show during the final, which largely overran the required maximum of 15 minutes, and the furore around FIFA suspending the red card ban given to American forward Folarin Balogun following a phone call made by United States President Donald Trump to Infantino. Since the World Cup, UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments until Infantino scrapped the FIFA Forward Enterprises plan to bring in private investment.
European football’s governing body UEFA has also accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” over the private financing. FIFA did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for a comment. Other regional bodies – the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) – have joined UEFA in putting pressure on Infantino, who is hoping to run for re-election in March.
Platini was himself accused of fraud in 2015 when he was UEFA president and eyeing the top job at FIFA to replace Sepp Blatter, who was likewise accused of giving an illegal payment of $2m to the Frenchman. Platini was eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing in 2025 but was forced to step down at the time, with Infantino leaping on the opportunity to be elected FIFA president in his stead in 2016. He accuses the trio of a “criminal conspiracy to commit false accusation … influence peddling … and aiding and abetting influence peddling”.
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