Jordan FA President 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 Footballing Confederations around the world, the president of the Jordanian Football Association 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 Jordanian FA if they do not support his bid for re-election as President. Ali is not only the President of the Jordanian FA, but also the President of the West Asian Football Federation that consists of influential nations like Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Ali, who ran for FIFA President in 2016, finishing 3rd, went on to post multiple problems faced by his country. From 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 them.

In his statement that he released on “X”, Ali wrote, “We have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a Fifa event,” his statement read. “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.”

The accusation comes at a rather inopportune time for Infantino, who after his botched plan of selling off World Cup rights to private investors, is steadily seeing his support base dwindle. FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom called the attempt a “sad and reproachable series of events”, while former Arsenal manager and current FIFA Global development chief Arsene Wenger opined that the withdrawal was “absolutely necessary and without question”.

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

Apart from UEFA and CONCACAF, who have unanimously decided to boycott any future FIFA events, individual federations have also been withdrawing their support to Infantino’s claim. The English, Welsh, and Finnish FA’s 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 to an emergency meeting in Rabat that is scheduled to be held today.