September 23 – The German and Dutch football associations have slammed FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s latest letter offering a governance overhaul.
Bernd Neuendorf, a member of the FIFA Council and president of the German Federation (DFB), described Infantino’s letter as a “transparent maneuver” to secure his re-election. Neuendorf told German media: “Basically, now FIFA also seems to have recognized that changes are essential. However, Gianni Infantino is definitely not the right person to moderate a reform process. He has lost all credibility.”
“I believe Gianni Infantino’s letter is a transparent maneuver to secure his re-election next year.”
The Dutch FA (KNVB) echoed Neuendorf’s sentiment, arguing that FIFA needs new leadership. In a statement, the KNVB wrote: “For us, trust has not yet been restored by this. The proposed actions seem partly in line with our call for reforms within FIFA. Time will tell if this is the case. At the same time, the proposals cannot be seen in isolation from (public) pressure and would not have happened without the current dynamics. We stand for and defend new leadership at FIFA.”
UEFA has tried to remove Infantino from his role after his plans to sell the World Cup were leaked. The FIFA president abandoned the plans and almost apologized in a letter after a huge backlash from FIFA’s federations and his own staff, but has still refused to resign. On Monday, in his latest letter to the FIFA Council and the 211 member associations, Infantino indicated that he would be open to discussing a governance review.
After FIFAGate in 2015, the Italo-Swiss soccer chief sat on a committee to draft reforms to the world federation, but instead, after his election, became executive president, concentrating and consolidating power, and ignoring much of the reforms he had been key in implementing, notably term limits for FIFA’s independent presidency and judicial selection.
Next year, FIFA will hold elections at its annual congress in Rabat, Morocco. The candidates for its presidency have until November 18 to confirm their candidacy.
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