FIFA president Gianni Infantino said his organization’s reputation is being rebuilt from the chaos of his predecessor, Sepp Blatter, and had little use for media criticism. “There are a lot of fake news and alternative facts about FIFA circulating,” said Infantino, speaking before Thursday’s FIFA congress in Bahrain. “FIFA bashing has become a national sport […]
gianni infantino
Posted inOff The Post, Story
Does FIFA have its own Comey problem?
On Tuesday, the same day FBI director James Comey was fired, the FIFA Council decided not to renew the terms of FIFA chief ethics investigator Cornel Borbely and FIFA ethics chief judgeHans-Joachim Eckert. As you can imagine, Borbely and Eckert have been busy the last few years. The federal indictment of dozens of soccer officials […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
World Cup 2026 bid: What we know and don't know
The USA, Canada and Mexico announced plans to submit a unified bid to host the 2026 World Cup. Here’s what we know and don’t know about the bid announced Monday by U.S. Soccer president SunilGulati, Concacaf and CSA president Victor Montagliani (left in photo) and Mexican federation president Decio de Maria (right) at New York’s One World […]
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FIFA concludes internal investigation into allegations of fraud and corruption
After 22 months of investigating itself, FIFA has announced the process is complete. It had hired a law firm based in Los Angeles, Quinn Emanuel, to conduct the investigation intoallegations of fraud and corruption stemming from raids of offices and arrests of top officials starting in May of 2015. The fruits of the investigation: more […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Gianni Infantino
“The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decision, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements. Nothing to do with the U.S. or not, it’s general sportingcriterion. Mr. Trump is the president of the United States of America and as such of course [I have] huge […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Fan confidence in FIFA remains low in Infantino era
A year after Gianni Infantino was elected president of FIFA, fan confidence in the organization, a worldwide symbol of corruption following years of scandals, remains low. TransparencyInternational and Forza Football, a football fan opinion platform with more than 3 million subscribers, just completed a snap survey of 25,000 fans from over 50 countries. The results: […]
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Plenty of berths in expanded World Cup will keep everyone happy
Gianni Infantino ran for FIFA president on a platform that included an expansion of the World Cup. Other than more money — also on the Infantino platform — nothing gets the attention of FIFAmembers more than increased World Cup spots. Now that Infantino has won and pushed through an expanded World Cup from 32 to […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Infantino backs Russia's World Cup 2018 on security
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is “not at all concerned” by the threat of hooliganism at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, saying he has “full confidence” in the Russian authorities. Russianhooligans have been a problem domestically and at Euro 2016.
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Infantino should get his wish: 48-team World Cup
With an expanded World Cup — from 38 to 48 teams in 2026 — expected to generate an extra $1 billion in revenues, FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plan, would involve 48 nations playingin 16 groups of three teams, is expected to pass the new FIFA council. Many feel the 32-team format is the best — […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Wenger unconvinced about merits of expanded World Cup
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has garnered support in some quarters for an expanded World Cup tournament, but one person who isn’t convinced that a 48-team tournament is necessary is longtimeArsenal manager Arsene Wenger. “My thoughts on that are, is it guided for popular reasons?” he said. “Or is that guided to improve the level of […]