US President Donald Trump has voiced support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has faced criticism, according to infohub.kz.
Trump posted his words of support on his Truth Social account. "FIFA would make a terrible mistake if, for any reason, it even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino. He is doing a fantastic job — after all, under his leadership, the most successful World Cup in history took place, and, in my words, four times more successful than any previous one. If he is not in that position, the next World Cup will never be as successful or profitable!" the White House chief said.
Earlier, FIFA had drawn up a plan to sell the rights to the World Cup — men's, women's, and club — to private investors. In response, all members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) declared a boycott of FIFA tournaments until the initiative was fully dropped. UEFA's stance was supported by the confederations of the Americas and Asia. Among other things, they accused FIFA of a lack of transparency in shaping the new commercial concept.
Amid the scandal, it became known that a FIFA president's advisor was dismissed in protest. UEFA even developed a plan to hold its own version of the World Cup.
After that, FIFA abandoned the controversial plan to sell World Cup rights. Soon, FIFA's leadership expressed support for Infantino and acknowledged mistakes in the project to sell World Cup rights.
In addition, the International Federation of Association Football recently stated that there were attempts to undermine Infantino's authority. Amid the scandal, a number of football federations published an open letter criticizing FIFA President Gianni Infantino. And American football federations made a joint statement calling for changes in FIFA's governance structure.