FIFA chief Gianni Infantino insists ‘we must work to prevent a Super League’ and that he did not cover up for Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain.
FIFA chief Gianni Infantino insists ‘we must work to prevent a Super League’ and that he did not cover up for Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain.
Football Leaks claimed Juventus, Milan, Inter and Roma were among the clubs negotiating to form a breakaway Super League, while accusing UEFA of helping PSG and City circumvent huge Financial Fair Play violations when Infantino was still its general secretary.
“I never talked to [Donald] Trump to ask him to organise the 2026 World Cup in North America and not in Morocco,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I spoke to him only after the vote in August. That accusation is also a lie. There’s not even an iota of wrongdoing or a violation of a regulation.
“There’s nothing, only that FIFA has changed completely from the past. I’m a son of Italian immigrants and I’m changing FIFA. Maybe someone wasn’t used to change…
“The 2026 World Cup was assigned with the most democratic and transparent system in the world, with certain rules put in place at the beginning. I had to resist the pressure of those who wanted to go back to the old days…
“FFP? I’m the FIFA President. I was UEFA’s general secretary. My objective was to help clubs, not destroy them.
“I met PSG, City and other clubs to reach ‘settlements’, agreements, but the final decision always belonged to the judging panels, not me.
“I didn’t even have the tools to change the cards on the table. Besides, City and PSG have been fined about €20m.
“Not only them. Out of 30 clubs, only two have been excluded: Milan, whom CAS has reinstated, and a Russian team.
“When one speaks of favouritism, they’re wrong: the ‘smaller’ clubs have been punished because they haven’t paid their debts or salaries, which is much more serious.
“We must also work to prevent a Super League, as well as the summer tournaments in America or around the world that could lead to a Super League.
“With the FIFA Club World Cup, there will also be solidarity and redistribution. In March we’ll see what happens.
“I always try to reach agreements, but if they’re not possible then it’ll be decided by a majority, like it happens in democracy.
“The World Cup with 48 teams will be from 2026, but if it’s possible with Qatar then we can bring forward an enlargement, otherwise no.
“We’ve quadrupled investments for federations, as well as increase turnover and reserves. All the payments we make are audited.
“Why do those making certain inquiries not ask where the old FIFA’s money went? There were lots of it, but we don’t know…
“In 10 years’ time, people will wonder why we started using VAR so late. FIFA has said ‘no’ the Spanish proposal of playing a few games abroad because we don’t believe it would be happy with hosting Premier League games.
“The Supercopa is different as it’s a less important tournament.”