Jordan FA president drops astounding FIFA bombshell as Infantino continues to be backed into a corner

In what is an increasingly escalating row between embattled FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the football associations around the world, the president of the Jordan Football Association has revealed an astounding piece of information, which could very well be the final nail in the coffin for Infantino.

Prince Ali bin Al Hussein has gone on record and accused the Infantino-led administration of “blackmailing” the Jordan Football Association if they do not support his bid for re-election as FIFA president. Ali is not only the president of the Jordan FA, but also the president of the West Asian Football Federation, which comprises influential nations like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Ali, who ran for the FIFA presidency in 2016, finishing third, went on to post multiple problems faced by his country. From the non-payment of dues following their participation in the Arab Cup, Ali revealed that FIFA threatened to stop and withhold the financial assistance that is owed to Jordan.

In his statement that he released on X, formerly Twitter, Ali wrote:

“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.

“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 govt 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.“

Apart from Jordan, it has been claimed that other countries were also subjected to similar means to secure their support for Infantino ahead of the election, which is scheduled to be held in March.

Apart from UEFA and CONCACAF, both of which have unanimously decided to boycott any future FIFA events, individual federations have also been withdrawing their support for Infantino’s bid. The English, Welsh, and Finnish FAs have already withdrawn their support, and they have now been joined by Serbia and Greece as well. Other bodies have also been giving this serious consideration in what is proving to be a rather shameful fall from grace for Infantino.

While FIFA has been contacted for comment in the aftermath of Ali’s accusation, it is being reported that Infantino has convened the FIFA staff for an emergency meeting in Rabat, Morocco, which is scheduled to be held today.