Football boss accuses Gianni Infantino of ‘blackmail’ in scathing statement

Gianni Infantino has faced his stiffest criticism yet after being accused of 'blackmail' by a top football official.

The walls are closing in on the FIFA President after his plan to sell off stakes in the beloved World Cup to private investors crumbled in front of his eyes.

After his plot was unveiled by The Times' Martin Ziegler before Infantino could announce it in his own time, he has come under immense pressure from worldwide footballing bodies.

Now Infantino has called a crisis meeting in Rabat, Morocco, on Wednesday, August 5, morning with senior FIFA staff, according to Sky Sports.

All 55 European nations in UEFA threatened to boycott the World Cup if the plan went ahead, while CONCACAF and AFC also rejected the proposals.

With Infantino's own top advisor, Carlos Cordeiro, quitting in response to his grand designs, he succumbed to the mounting pressure and scrapped the idea completely on August 1.

However, the 56-year-old is not in the clear yet amid increasing calls for him to step down from the position he's held onto for over a decade.

Now, in the most scathing attack he's faced yet as Jordan FA President, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, has claimed FIFA withheld funds owed to his association in prize money from competing in the last Arab Cup at the tail end of 2025.

Jordan FA President criticises Infantino

Taking to X in a lengthy statement that's been viewed over 3.7million times, Al Hussein wrote: "There is no shortage of issues regarding FIFA.

"Let me start by clarifying what some of these are from an FA perspective, in particular that of Jordan going into a World Cup for the first time.

"We are a small country with a minimal budget for our FA and had to deal with enormous hurdles.

"First, getting our fans into the USA: not all were granted VISAS, even though they had tickets -which we also know were sold at exorbitant prices.

"Secondly, we are being taxed by the US govt through FIFA for our participation. Money that should go to players and staff. This was not the case for those who played and set up camp in Canada and Mexico. But we happened to be in the USA so now we face these huge costs in taxes for having participated."

"Thirdly we have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event. The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve."

'We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now'

Jordan made it to the Arab Cup final on December 18 2025, but were defeated 3-2 by Morocco to finish with a silver medal.

Al Hussein then claimed that he'd been told at the World Cup that publicly endorsing Infantino would provide a big boost to the Jordan FA.

"It is clear the problem really is with leadership," he continued.

"For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters- until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out."

However, he refused to do so and has no intention of changing that stance now, accusing the association of 'blackmail' for refusing to hand over the prize money.

Al Hussein added: "We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that."

LADbible Group has contacted FIFA for comment in response to Al Hussein's claims.

If Infantino remains in his post despite calls for him to resign, he will stand for re-election in March for a fourth and final term as president. He would require 106 votes out of 211 to secure his position.

However, since announcing his plans to sell off shares in the World Cup, he has only been publically been backed by 15 nations, with the English and Welsh FA's both withdrawing their backing.