Prince Ali bin Hussein, president of the Jordan Football Association, has launched a scathing attack on Fifa president Gianni Infantino, alleging that he was effectively pressured to endorse Infantino's re-election bid in exchange for assistance with long-standing grievances involving his federation.
The accusation comes in the wake of Infantino's abandoned scheme to sell stakes in the World Cup and other Fifa-run tournaments to private investors. The proposal collapsed last week after widespread backlash from football's governing bodies. Uefa announced it would boycott the World Cup and other Fifa competitions if the plan advanced, a stance quickly echoed by the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf, the latter representing 41 countries across North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Against this backdrop, Prince Ali - who challenged Infantino for the Fifa presidency in 2016 and lost - took to social media platform X to detail a list of frustrations he says Jordan's federation has endured since qualifying for its first-ever World Cup. He claimed that several Jordanian supporters were denied visas to travel to the United States despite holding valid tickets, which he noted had been sold at inflated prices. He further alleged that Jordan's federation was subjected to taxation by the US government via Fifa for its tournament participation - a financial burden he said did not apply to teams based in co-hosts Canada and Mexico.
"This was not the case for those who played and set up camp in Canada and Mexico. But we happened to be in the USA, so now we face these huge costs in taxes for having participated," Prince Ali wrote.
He also raised the issue of unpaid prize money from Jordan's run to the final of the Arab Cup in Qatar last December, a Fifa-organized tournament, saying the promised funds for players and staff had still not arrived months later. He contrasted this with Fifa's frequently cited financial reserves running into the billions.
The Jordanian federation chief went further, alleging that he was informally told during the World Cup that supporting Infantino's re-election campaign would help resolve these outstanding issues. He rejected any suggestion that Jordan would change its position in light of that message.
"We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values," Prince Ali said. "We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that."
He placed the blame squarely on Fifa's leadership, suggesting that months of inaction on Jordan's concerns only changed when tied to political support for Infantino. "It is clear the problem really is with leadership," he added, saying Fifa had ignored the federation's requests until the alleged offer was made during the tournament in the US.
Fifa has been made aware of the comments but has not issued a formal response. Infantino himself has remained silent publicly since scrapping his investment plan for the World Cup last Saturday, even as pressure mounts from multiple continental confederations and now from a federation head who once ran against him for the sport's top job.
The episode adds to a turbulent period for Fifa, with the failed investment proposal, confederation threats of boycotts, and now allegations of coercive tactics combining to raise fresh questions about Infantino's leadership ahead of next year's presidential election.
Based on reporting from The Independent.