‘Damaged’ Gianni Infantino tipped to back down after UEFA’s threat to boycott World Cup

Gianni Infantino may back down on his controversial plan to sell World Cup stakes to private investors – but he won’t be resigning.

The reprehensible FIFA president has been plotting a scheme to further line his pockets by auctioning parts of football’s greatest tournament.

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Under Infantino’s plans, which have led to discussions with the Donald Trump administration, a new company will be in charge of top competitions across both the men’s and women’s game.

The 56-year-old would be lined up to run the enterprise as its commissioner when his final FIFA presidency ends in 2031, assuming he is re-elected unopposed, as is currently the bleak situation.

What is Infantino’s plan?

Infantino, who boldly slammed his critics for ‘spreading hate’, would see FIFA retain majority control of a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), that consolidates broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing, and licensing – including those for the World Cup and Club World Cup.

He then plans to see the rest sold, partly to each of FIFA’s 211 national associations in stakes worth around $20million (£15m), with another portion farmed out to private investment.

The Times’ chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler, who broke the news, believes the immediate backlash has damaged Infantino’s position.

He told talkSPORT Breakfast duo Andy Goldstein and Andy Townsend: “Some people said that they think he’s pushed it too far and he’s going to have to back down.”

When asked if Infantino would resign or walk away, Ziegler said: “Well, not resign. Back down and let things calm down and make another sort of money-making effort enterprise in a few years’ time.

“So I still think that his power base is so strong that he will.

“This won’t affect him in terms of his future as FIFA president, but I think it would certainly leave his position damaged.

“I think he would have to probably pull back on his ambitions of having the Club World Cup held more often or even bigger or even expanding the World Cup to 64 teams, which the South Americans are proposing.”

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What could it mean for football?

Infantino’s latest money-making scheme would undoubtedly increase pressure to maximise profits for new private investors.

The most obvious ways in which to do so would be to expand the World Cup to 64 teams, further ramp up ticket prices, and revitalise Arsene Wenger’s campaign to make the tournament biennial.

“I first got wind of it on Monday,” Ziegler continued on talkSPORT.

“It took probably 24 hours to get it across the line because obviously there was kind of top secrecy around it.

“FIFA didn’t want people to know about it. I clearly knew it was gonna be hugely sensitive, but a bit of perseverance and managed to get it managed to get it there.”

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When asked about what the impact will be and if it will make the game more expensive, he said: “I think it’s probably bigger than that because if you say, if you’ve got private investors owning around about a third of the World Cup effectively, you know what they want is return on their investment. That means pushing for more money.

“It could be anything, it could be tickets, but it could be more.

“A bigger World Cup means more money. So 64 teams holding the World Cup more often means more money.

“We’ve known before that Infantino’s tried to get a biennial World Cup every two years.”

Would that pressure increase? “Inevitably.

“They want it to be in the big market, so does that mean going back to the USA much more regularly than it has been because that’s where the biggest return is. That’s what the pressure will be.”

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A World Cup without UEFA?

The dastardly plot has sparked fresh fury from UEFA, who have already accused FIFA of ‘crossing a red line’ after talkSPORT revealed that Infantino received a call from US President Trump asking him to review Folarin Balogun’s red card at the World Cup.

European football’s governing body are now said to be considering taking drastic action to prevent the plans to sell World Cup stakes – with a potential boycott even being floated.

talkSPORT understands European nations will discuss this in an emergency meeting this week to figure out the next steps.

To that end, Ziegler added to Wednesday’s Breakfast show: “UEFA are a powerful confederation within their own right.

“They are going to hold some sort of a virtual emergency meeting of their 55 member associations in the next few days.

“I imagine one of the things they will discuss is whether they can threaten to boycott the World Cup? Is that realistic? A World Cup without the European nations is obviously not going to happen.

“It’s meant to be in Europe the next time in 2030. We’ve got the Women’s World Cup before then next year, so they could do it, but I’d say it’s the nuclear option.”