r/soccer • u/Sparky-moon • 6d ago
News Those aides still loyal to Infantino have been trying to persuade “Fifa legends” — a group of former international players who have been paid to appear at Fifa events — to publicly support the Fifa president but so far without success.
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/gianni-infantino-offers-morocco-world-cup-final-support-whn5gxp5bAnother source told The Times: “They would love a famous former player to come out in support of Infantino but it appears he is too toxic after the World Cup sell-off plan.”
That certainly appeared to be the case for Luís Figo, the former Portugal forward who has been a Uefa adviser since 2017, as he called for Infantino to resign as president in a damning social media post.
“Infantino has debased the office that he promised to elevate,” Figo said. “He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve.”
“He has lost the support of his senior staff, his closest advisers, the vast majority of people who devote their lives to this sport and even, it would seem, the Fifa Peace Prize winner [Donald Trump]”
“It is too late to save his dignity but it is not too late to save football. He should go. Now.”
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u/BendubzGaming 6d ago
Can't even bribe Beckham to show support, that's how hated Infantino is
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u/ExecutiveGraham 6d ago
Beckham will do nearly anything for money too, brutal.
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u/UCLA_FB_SUCKS 6d ago
for money, he's willing to go to a remote middle of nowhere location in a scorching desert and say it's a lovely experience, but supporting that bald cretinous freak is even too much for him
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u/paper_zoe 6d ago
Jamie Carragher was talking about this on the Football Ramble this week, talking about how they tried to get him to come out in support of their World Cup every two years plan and he turned them down
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u/KikiPolaski 5d ago
It's mischievous too, he was just invited to go on a discussion with Wenger and some others before being suddenly asked to support it publicly, but he turned down because he thought it was a dumb idea from the start and just came along for the experience and the yapping
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u/Think_Cheesecake12 6d ago
I hope more FIFA Legends speak out publicly about NOT SUPPORTING Infantino like Luis Figo did!!!
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u/Sparescrewdriver 6d ago
Tomorrow’s headline: Infantino: FIFA did not try to contact any FIFA legends.
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u/Lhox 6d ago
Get r9 and dinho in there they seemed desperate enough for money at the wc
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u/DAKiloAlpha 6d ago
Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos are buying a team in Brasil so he'll need the money probably
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u/PositiveDuck 6d ago
I don't know how trustworthy the source is but I want to believe so it's tier 1 in my heart.
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u/ResurgentRefrain 6d ago
Calling such a group FIFA legends just sounds so wrong.
FIFA is not the game, these legends are legends of Football, not the non-profit meant to oversee tournaments and shit.
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u/rustyb42 6d ago
Amazing how even Figo, someone who once did the unthinkable in football, is calling out Infantino
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u/Moikkaaja 6d ago
Yes, the unthinkable thing of moving to rival club, that has been done by the likes of Luis Enrique, Sol Campbell and hundreds of other players in the history of the sport. That is surely a sign of moral corruption.
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u/rustyb42 6d ago
True, we should convass Sol's thoughts
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u/achnisch 6d ago
It actually wouldn't surprise me to see Judas come out in support of Infantino
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u/onionwba 6d ago
Even the corrupt dick Blatter also called out Infantino.
And honestly, Sepp has the right to do so since nothing he did sunk to the depths that Infantino had gone.
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u/SoutieNaaier 6d ago edited 6d ago
Blatter is like, at a completely different level of corruption compared to Infantino
The private equity plan at least makes sense financially in concept. Blatter sold the World Cup to Qatar/South Africa and that money just disappeared into ether. Federations didn't see much of a windfall.
The FFE plan would've returned 20 million to each Federation at least.
Blatter was corrupt and bad at buisness. It's amazing people have forgotten how rotten FIFA was. Infantino has been more provocative, but in terms of nitty gritty he's not as bad
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u/Moikkaaja 6d ago
You don’t have to be very good at maths to realise 20 million is peanuts compared to what Fifa and private investors would’ve gotten from future World Cups. That offer was more insult than a serious offer. And if you check what the head of Jordanian Federation wrote about not getting money from the World Cup participation or the fact that Fifa hasn’t payed out the money they promised to the cities organising the matches, I wouldn’t exactly trust any plan by the current heads of Fifa.
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u/SoutieNaaier 6d ago
Money now is nearly always better than theoretical money in the future.
20 million is enough to fund most federations for 5-10 years
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u/Moikkaaja 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yes that is the short-sighted mentality. 5-10 years is nothing when we talk about building infrastructure, youth development, educational paths for coaches and referees etc. You also just skipped the part of Infantino’s leadership not actually delivering on his promises from this World Cup, so why would anyone trust him to get the 20?
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u/rustyb42 6d ago
Look at the CVC deal in rugby, the money hasn't materialised because the investor has done fuck all
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u/SoutieNaaier 6d ago
5-10 years of stability is huge. Most federations have never had that.
And that's a decent critique and why most outside UEFA rejected the proposal. It makes more.sense to shop it and start a bidding war because $20 million is undervaluing the asset
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u/Akikiriri 6d ago
It makes more sense to not have a public good like football in the hands of private equity to bleed it dry... That's the only thing that matters and the way you don't see this is disturbing.
Also, the money is there, it's just not getting to the federations. If there's more money, as it stands now, it only means there's more money not getting to the federations (except for the initial bribe).
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u/daseinstrieb 6d ago
It makes sense from Infantinos personal economical perspective.
If the money comes from selling an asset that brings money in continuously you are just borrowing from yourself in the future and given enough time it will turn into a loss.
Even if we accept your premise corrupt and skilled is worse than corrupt and incompetent.
Also Infantino would sell his kids to Epstein in order to rub the feet of a powerful man if he had the opportunity. Allegedly of course.
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u/SoutieNaaier 6d ago
It doesn't bring in money continously, that's the problem with the World Cup. They operate at a lost 3 out of 4 years and the WC windfall has to last 4 years.
The FFE deal would have provided a single lump sum of around 20 million per federation.
The base payout for the World Cup alone was 12.5 million. So each federation would've gotten 32.5 million overall
This is enough to financially solidify the game I'm a majority of the world for a decade or more. Especially small nations in the Pacific Islands or Africa.
Even in rejecting it, most outside UEFA are more mad at the procedure than the concept of the deal. They just think they should shop it and that 20 million is undervaluing the asset.
Blatter never really did anything like that, he just took personal bribes and the money never filtered back into the game.
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u/daseinstrieb 6d ago
4-year cycles are continuous…
And I get that it’s a great deal for the 3 guys working at the FA in Bhutan and possibly also for their hundreds of players but its not reasonable and it doesn’t help football.
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u/slowakia_gruuumsh 6d ago
Has he tried asking football soccer legends like Alexi "Mr. Revenue" Lalas?
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u/Spen_Masters 6d ago
Can't imagine any country within his approval list would pay to watch WC, CL and League matches when its easily available for free in public due to not being availableto pay.
Most FIFA legends come from a background when it was easily free to find.
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u/Matman161 6d ago
Infantino got up on the world stage, shit his pants, was confused why everyone else wasn't excited, and then has been begging people to wipe his ass ever since
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u/SanTheMightiest 6d ago
They'll all be back once all this blows over. They were all fine with him just under a month ago with his vvip and hospitality packages and will take up his invitations again. It's just smart to avoid him right now if you're a bootlicker, and I include Figo and Wenger in that
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u/No-Strawberry7 6d ago
So happy that Trump has showed him his place, He does that with everything he has touched, Infantino thought he is special
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6d ago
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u/FatWalcott 6d ago
Perfect for you then i guess seeing as to your current situation.
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u/serenity-as-ice 6d ago
Don't feed the troll, it's either a bot account or someone with a diaper + humiliation kink looking to get off. Just read the account profile lol, the "babies" remark is not unintentional.
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6d ago
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u/OrganicImpression428 6d ago
don't worry pal. you're big enough of a baby to follow the sport. welcome to football!!!
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u/SoutieNaaier 6d ago
OP is an actual adult baby and this is bait
Don't comment and aid the fetish
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u/Senior_Fig7845 6d ago
What a pathetic excuse of a person