Gianni Infantino has boasted that money no longer disappears in what he described as a “new FIFA“. This is contrary to the number of financial irregularities liked to the world football governing body.
Infantino who became president of the body in 2015 after the former president, Sepp Blatter was banned from football due to financial irregularities, is under investigation in Switzerland.
Though Fifa‘s ethics community has exonerated him from any wrongdoing after a Swiss persecutor revealed that he had an “illegal” meeting with the then-attorney general, Michael Lauber, he is still under investigation for other alleged illegalities.
In the midst of all that, Gianni Infantino told the world during the opening ceremony of FIFA Congress held as a virtual event that he and his team have designed a system that would ensure that any amount coming out from the football governing body is accounted for.
“Everywhere people are convinced of the new FIFA, or maybe I should say almost everywhere”, Infantino said.
“But don’t worry, we will be able to convince the skeptics eventually. (The meetings with Lauber) were meant to define that the new FIFA was miles away from the old FIFA.
“FIFA became victim to corrupt officials – that’s not what I say, that’s what courts say all over the world, and FIFA is still suffering from that.
“In 2015 FIFA was toxic, was pronounced dead. An organization that had served itself from football, had used football, instead of serving football.
“So why was I meeting the Swiss attorney general? Because it was my duty as FIFA president because I wanted to liberate FIFA from those old, toxic values.”
The Fifa president who stated this during Friday’s virtual FIFA Congress opening ceremony reacted on the financial impact football has suffered since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and revealed that the football governing body has enough money to help.
FIFA which says leagues and national associations would lose at least £11 billion, is ready to pay out £1.15 million in grants to national associations. More so, the football governing body is willing to grant at most £3.86 million in interest-free loans to interested national associations.
President Infantino uses virtual FIFA Congress platform to encourage football’s safe return ⚽️💻✅
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) September 18, 2020
🗞➡️ https://t.co/CUt4qx3mY9 pic.twitter.com/e7aU7ec1Iv
Gianni Infantino says Serie A is not exciting
The President of Fifa, Gianni Infantino has rubbish Italian Serie A and described it as not being exciting because Juventus has been winning the league for 9 successive years.
He, therefore, advocated for a new system where football leagues can be structured in playoffs format rather than the regular home-and-away format.
“Somebody told me these things sound like the NBA and are not so good for football,” Infantino said
“But I ask you … do we really think the Italian league has been very exciting in the last nine years? What kind of competition is it where 90% of teams want to finish second?
“It’s not for the FIFA president to say how football should be played … but it’s legitimate to think there are other ways to play competitions.”
