UEFA | Pakistan

PARIS: FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has endured a week of scathing criticism revolving around the now shelved private investment plan, has been accused by a British newspaper of paying off an alleged lover while at UEFA. According to The Telegraph, the Italian-Swiss lawyer, who served as secretary general of European football’s governing body from 2009 to 2016, also previously used his influence to secure a promotion for the same UEFA employee with whom he was in an intimate relationship. Infantino has categorically denied the allegations, according to the article which was published late on Friday. When contacted by AFP on Saturday, a FIFA spokesperson had not responded. According to The Telegraph, which did not cite its sources, this employee received a “a six-figure sum” upon her departure — at an unspecified time — in addition to the payment of tuition fees for a business school amounting to around 45,000 ($60,700). When contacted by AFP, UEFA acknowledged that “a departure payment was made to the...

European football’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday it would boycott the World Cup should FIFA press ahead with its private investor plan. “No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” UEFA said in a statement. “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product … No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.” FIFA, football’s world governing body, on Tuesday announced plans to create a commercial subsidiary to run its biggest events, such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. Under the proposal, private investors would be allowed to acquire stakes in the company but would remain minority shareholders, FIFA said. The governing body hopes to raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for the FIF...

European football body UEFA has lashed out at FIFA’s decision to suspend US striker Folarin Balogun’s red-card ban in the World Cup, after American President Donald Trump called FIFA to ask it to review the case, saying world football’s governing body had “crossed a red line” and undermined the integrity of the game. “We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” UEFA said in a statement on Monday. “When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake, and the credibility of a competition is undermined.” Reuters has reached out to FIFA for comment. Balogun, who has scored three goals for the US in the tournament, was sent off after a VAR review for dragging his cleats down the back of defender Tarik Muharemovic’s leg and onto his foot during their win over Bosnia in the round of 32. Trump had asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review Balogun’s red card, which would have automatically suspended the p...