Wednesday, August 5, 2026 - Jordan FA president Prince Ali bin Hussein has accused FIFA president Gianni Infantino of blackmail.
Infantino has come under intense scrutiny since plans to
sell £3.1 billion in World Cup stakes leaked last week.
The Swiss football administrator has since scrapped the
proposals after widespread opposition - including an internal rebellion at
FIFA.
UEFA and Concacaf - the body for North and Central America
and the Caribbean - are both calling for Infantino to step down, with Europe
declaring a lack of confidence in the FIFA president.
Jordan, meanwhile, are the first Asian nation to rebel
against Infantino - taking the total to 91, assuming all UEFA and CONCACAF
nations follow the stance set by their continental bodies. 106 nations are
needed to depose Infantino as president.
In a statement, Hussein ripped into Infantino, accusing him
of delaying prize money payments and refusing to address the problem unless
Jordan endorsed him for a fourth term at the helm of world football.
‘There is no shortage of issues regarding FIFA. Let me start
by clarifying what some of these are from an FA perspective, in particular that
of Jordan going into a World Cup for the first time,’ Hussein said.
‘We are a small country with a minimal budget for our FA and
had to deal with enormous hurdles.
‘First, getting our fans into the USA: not all were granted
VISAS, even though they had tickets - which we also know were sold at
exorbitant prices.
‘Secondly, we are being taxed by the US government through
FIFA for our participation. Money that should go to players and staff.
‘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.
‘Thirdly we have been waiting for reward money for our
players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event.
‘The money our team should receive for having reached the
final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how
many billions they have in reserve.
‘It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For
months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters -
until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I
endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out.
‘We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values.
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.’
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