Infantino – a victim of his own ambition?
GianniInfantino’sworstenemyas
world football supremo is not Swiss
justice or any disaffected European.
It is his own haste to make his mark.
FIFA presidents do not, traditionally,
lose their grip on the job. The levers
are too powerful. In116 years only nine
men have wielded that power. Three of
them (Daniel Woolfall, Arthur Drewry
and Rodolfe Seeldrayers) died in office;
one stepped down because he was too
busy in his day job (journalist Robert
Guerin in1906); and two retired due
to old age costing them their touch
(Jules Rimet andJoao Havelange).
Only one, Sir Stanley Rous in1974,
was tragically voted out of office. Few
in the UK now know of the key role
played by the former top referee and
FA secretary in turning FIFA into a
real world body and then laying the
foundations for the creation of UEFA.
Infantino was elected in 2016 as a
“clean” candidate. As UEFA’s general
secretary, he had not slithered up
from the corrupt snake pit of the
FIFA exco, nor was he tainted by
any direct association with the rotten
regime of outgoing Sepp Blatter.
He promised: “We will restore the
image of FIFA to win back the respect
of the entire world through our hard
work and commitment and focus, once
again, on this beautiful game.”Infantino arrived with plenty of
goodwill. He needed only focus on
three targets: to steer clear of the
United States and Swiss courts as
they punished FIFAGate criminality;
to avoid picking unnecessary fights;
and to ramp up development cash to
the middling and minnow FAs. Their
grateful majority would guarantee
him re-election again and again.
Infantino would have been aware
that, by the time he may complete
a third full four-year term (notionally
in 2031 when he will be “only” 61),happy supporters might even enact
a statutes amendment so he could
carry on wielding the cheque book.
He also knew that the old guard
within FIFA were not happy with an
ex-UEFAapparatchikas their new
boss. All the more reason not only
to bring over from Nyon some of his
old acolytes but to ensure he played
strictly by the internal rules. That
should have included care over the
use of private jets, the issue which
had contributed to the downfall of
ex-secretary generalJerome Valcke.THEWORLD THIS MONTH
THE INSIDER
Keir
RADNEDGE
Infantinomight havestudiedthe
reflections of predecessor Blatter on
the leap from a general secretary to
a president. As Blatter told this writer
years after his own elevation from
FIFA CEO in1998: “I tried to do too
much too soon. I should have taken
time to watch, listen and learn.”
Fashionably, new bosses in any
sphere are tempted to quickly impress
their style; a dangerous temptation.
But Infantino was a man not merely
in a hurry but reckless haste. Within
weeks of election he threw his supportbehind VAR trials, reversing his own
UEFA policy; he flew to Russia and
Qatar to check on World Cup
preparations for 2018 and 2022; then
a month later he attended the UEFA
Champions League final in Milan
before flying down to Rome for a
family audience with Pope Francis.
Controversy over who paid for at
least two of the flights remains a murky
issue which will not go away. The
ethics committee, alerted to internal
concerns, decided an investigation into
a new president would be unseemly.
Infantino has caused further waves
by forcing out audit and compliance
chairman Domenico Scala; undertaking
secretive negotiations with outside
investors about financing his pet
expansion of the Club World Cup;
upsetting African football bosses by
sending Fatma Samoura, his own
personal appointee as secretary-
general, to run chaotic CAF for six
months; and going head-to-head with
Trinidadian courts over attempts to
normalise the Trinidad & Tobago FA.
Nothing, however, has generated
as many self-inflicted headaches for
Infantino as the Michael Lauber affair.
In late 2019 the Football Leaks
operation revealed that Swiss
Attorney-General Lauber had held
unreported meetings with Infantino
inJuly 2015 then March and AprilSuspicion...Infantino
continues to be
under investigationBosses in any sphere are tempted to quickly impress
their style; a dangerous temptation. But Infantino
was a man not merely in a hurry but reckless haste