Infantino’s opponents at FIFA call for US$10m payments to federations

FIFA’s member federations should each get an extra US$10 million from its swelling cash reserves after a successful World Cup, the football body’s vice presidents from Europe and North America said in a letter yesterday to its president Gianni Infantino as they stepped up efforts to oust him for trying to sell stakes in the tournament to private investors.

The letter says FIFA should have cash reserves of $6 billion after the World Cup and can afford such a “one-off release” – which would total $2.1 billion to the 211 federations – UEFA’s president Aleksander Ceferin and Concacaf’s leader Victor Montagliani tell Infantino in a letter seen by The Associated Press.

UEFA and Concacaf want to remove Infantino – either before or at the FIFA presidential election next March – after leading a global backlash in July against his World Cup sell-off plan to investors led by Joshua Kushner.