EXCLUSIVE: Gianni Infantino backtracked on his investment plan, which was rejected by three continental confederations, with UEFA having warned its nations would boycott FIFA events if it went ahead
England legend Peter Reid has slammed FIFA President Gianni Infantino and called for him to resign for the good of the game.
His demand came as FIFA ditched plans to sell off part of the World Cup to private investors following a furious backlash. European football’s governing body UEFA condemned the “shabby, back room” deal and declared a loss of confidence in Infantino as pressure mounted on the beleaguered boss.
Asked if Infantino should go, Reid, who played 159 times for Everton told the Sunday Mirror: “I cannot believe you are asking that question – it is like asking if the sky is blue when the sun is out.”
UEFA said: “UEFA welcomes FIFA’s decision to withdraw its plan to sell a stake in its competitions – including the World Cup – into private hands. The proposal was unanimously rejected by UEFA’s national associations and by many other federations and confederations of all sizes around the world, whose job it is to protect football.
“UEFA thanks all the fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations that opposed the scheme, alongside the many Prime Ministers, Heads of State and commentators who have demonstrated to the FIFA President that football is not for sale.”
They were backed by the FA who said: “We fully support UEFA’s position. It is time for a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently, for the benefit of all 211 member nations and with the long-term stewardship of football at its heart.”
PM Andy Burnham, who previously said Infantino was the wrong man to lead the organisation, stressed her felt it was the right decision for FIFA to back down.
Reid, who also played for Bolton Wanderers and manchester-city-fc>Manchester City, continued: “He must go – look at the World Cup: the hydration breaks for advertising, the half time show in the final. The rules of the game state it should be 15 minutes and it took more than half an hour.
“Do I think he should go? Yes. Private investors in football – that is just wrong. FIFA has hundreds of millions already, they should be putting more money into grassroots. That is where the money should go, instead of getting into bed with private investors.”
Reid played for England in the infamous ‘Hand of God’ game, the 2-1 quarter-final defeat to Maradona’s Argentina at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, and represented his country 13 times.
He continued: “Infantino’s position is untenable now, people have lost faith in him. You look at his private investment plan and its links to Donald Trump, it is just crazy. UEFA has come out against it and so has the Asian FA.
“And I back them 100 percent, though don’t forget that UEFA tried to launch the European Super League. FIFA should go back to the basics, concentrate on the game and the fans. The World Cup in America was just too expensive for ordinary people.
“I knew many fans who did go and they all said the same thing. It cost too much, and there was too much travelling. That was Infantino’s doing.”
Former Sunderland manager Peter turned 70 at the end of last month and is raising money for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. He added: “It’s an honour to still be part of his team 40 years after Mexico 86.”
The scathing statement from UEFA also said: “We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.
“It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again.
“That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table. The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.
“When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of FIFA’s Member Associations to elect him as their President in 2016, he said, ‘Of course we have to be transparent. I have been this in the last 15 years of my life in UEFA. You will have to play a part every day in the life of FIFA’, before telling the assembled stakeholders, ‘The money of FIFA is your money. It’s not the money of the FIFA President. It’s your money. You are the national associations and the money of FIFA has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else’.”
It continued: “On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent. And with reserves standing at over $5bn, he has also failed to use associations’ money for the benefit of the game.
“UEFA will begin work immediately with partners and stakeholders all over the world and right across the game to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
“We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in FIFA’s bank account to deliver the kick start that the grassroots and the wider game need in each of the 211 countries of FIFA. But we don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it.
“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.
Prince Ali Al Hussein, who previously ran to be head of FIFA, called for an end to secret ballots to elect the organisation’s president.
He posted online: “With all the controversy surrounding FIFA, world football is facing a clear cut crisis in leadership just before an upcoming election. As someone who has been through this process before, I believe one thing needs to be done immediately: remove a secret ballot for Presidential elections! Every other decision including hosting the World Cup is now done openly, except -of course- for presidential elections..”