Telegraph: Infantino under fire as FIFA plan triggers rare unity across football

Gianni Infantino’s latest FIFA project has provoked a backlash so broad that football has, according to The Telegraph, rediscovered its “moral compass”.

The newspaper described the controversy as a defining moment for the sport and portrayed the FIFA president’s conduct as an example of “greed” and arrogance. It said the project had united critics across the game, including senior figures within UEFA and FIFA itself.

In an article by journalist Oliver Brown, The Telegraph said last week had been “hell” for Infantino, whose “grand plan to carve up the World Cup was set to benefit only private equity funds and his personal bank balance, but it was a happy week for everyone who decries his greed”.

The criticism intensified after Carlos Cordeiro, a former adviser to Infantino, attacked what was described as a secret plan involving people close to United States president Donald Trump. Cordeiro called the proposal “a bad deal”.

Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, then added to the internal pressure by saying that staff had “been misled”.

The Telegraph argued that the dispute was significant for more than its immediate effect on Infantino. It said the episode reflected the “deep contempt” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin felt for the way his FIFA counterpart operated from the organisation’s headquarters in Zurich.

It also suggested that the reaction represented wider moral anger at Infantino’s “ego”. The newspaper described the Swiss official as boastful and lacking charisma, intelligence and empathy, while claiming that his behaviour had brought 143 countries together in disgust. It added that the number was continuing to grow.

Laura McAllister, UEFA’s vice-president, said the reaction could ultimately strengthen football’s governing principles.

“In many ways, this was a boost for the principles of football. It is an assertion… football comes out of this stronger,” she said.

According to The Telegraph, Infantino continued trying to revive the project even after UEFA, Concacaf and contacts at Kushner’s Thrive Eternal company withdrew their support. The newspaper said he pursued alternative financiers and continued his efforts “without shame to the end”.

The report said removing Infantino remained a complicated process, but argued that the events had provided grounds for relief. One major scandal, it concluded, had forced football to reconsider the values that should guide the sport.

The article’s assessment comes amid wider speculation about opposition to Infantino’s leadership. The Telegraph said the path to replacing him was still difficult, but maintained that the latest crisis had created a rare sense of unity among national associations and senior figures across the game.

Although football rarely speaks with one voice, the newspaper argued that the controversy had done precisely that. In its view, the reaction to Infantino’s project showed that concerns over the direction of the sport had moved beyond political disagreement and become a question of football’s ethical standards.