By James Dostoyevsky
The last few weeks have been bad ones for the new FIFA President. No matter what he does, whether boarding easyjet or a private jet, someone always has a quarrel with his choice.
June 7 – Sepp Blatter’s lawyers say his compensation payments were completely above board despite the furore over revelations last week by FIFA’s American lawyers that Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner paid themselves millions of dollars in bonuses that hardly anyone else was aware of.
The trio awarded themselves salary increases and future golden handshakes totaling tens of millions of dollars over just five years, it was disclosed. FIFA said prior to 2013,
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has come under renewed pressure to explain a series of potentially unlawful manoeuvres that threaten to seriously derail his presidency after 100 days in the job.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – Gianni Infantino has marked his first 100 days in charge of FIFA with a savage, somewhat unstatesmanlike tirade against his critics as he hit back at those who have accused him of abusing his position with a series of questionable manoeuvres.
By David Owen
June 5 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino will have to wait at least another 15 months before securing membership of sport’s most powerful club.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – Explosive new allegations have emerged of a cover-up orchestrated by FIFA president Gianni Infantino which could push him towards an ethics hearing only three months into the job.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – With precision timing just when the organisation’s new president Gianni Infantino was under mounting scrutiny for a raft of allegedly suspect manoeuvres to boost his authority, FIFA’s American lawyers hit back today by revealing that Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses worth $80 million over five years.
By James Dostoyevsky
Yesterday, Switzerland’s staunchly conservative daily, known as ‘NZZ’ among Zurich’s intelligentsia, headlined its back page: ‘Gianni Infantino has a problem’. The paper proceeded to list a host of “problems”, all of which look to be self-inflicted. And some of which will lead (have led) to an Ethics investigation by a man who cannot be bought: Cornel Borbély is a strong fighter for the good, and has no worries about being asked to leave.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – European football has lost the services of arguably its most knowledgeable and dedicated voice in the women’s game after Karen Espelund decided not to put her name forward as UEFA’s representative on FIFA’s newly established ruling Council.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
May 31 – The truth around the latest controversy to hit FIFA president Gianni Infantino has taken another intriguing twist with the release of taped transcripts that appear to confirm he had pushed for the removal of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance chief Domenico Scala.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 31 – Gianni Infantino, under increasing pressure to boost his personal reputation after a series of early presidential faux pas, has stepped up his policy of sweeping out the old guard at FIFA and bringing in his own senior staff.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – Damning claims have emerged of how FIFA president Gianni Infantino plotted to overthrow the official who fixed his salary and sought to cut colleagues’ pay to boost his own income.
May 30 – FIFA has punished seven nations – including Mexico, Chile and Croatia – for discriminatory behaviour from supporters, including homophobic chants.
Croatia, whose fans have a track record of incurring the wrath of the authorities, have been ordered to play their first two 2018 World Cup qualifiers behind closed doors and have been fined SFr150,000 for incidents which took place in friendly matches against Israel and Hungary last month.
Chile have been barred from playing at their Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos home for two official matches,
First Domenico Scala, now Markus Kattner. Two big fish with key roles to play in monitoring FIFA’s good governance. Yet both gobbled up in deadly, shark-infested waters within the space of a few days under the new regime of Gianni Infantino.
By James Dostoyevsky
UEFA is in a quagmire of its own making and one that is much welcomed by Gianni Infantino, the ‘little child’, who ascended to the FIFA Emperor’s Throne, only to stumble from blunder to blunder, with no end in sight.