Meet the world’s most hated man

There are several people now vying for the title of ‘Most Hated Man’. Some are politicians, some are tycoons, and some are called Martin Shkreli.

But while we promise (🤞?) this is our last FIFA story for four years, another top contender right now is the above Swiss lawyer called Gianni Infantino. With world leaders now weighing in, the reasons are both international and intriguing (🤝).

So shall we?

Infantino is, of course, head of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, aka FIFA — the world body for football but also beach soccer and futsal!

But viewing FIFA as just another sports body is pretty incomplete these days given the raw international cash, attention, and leader influence it yields:

• A ~fifth of the world’s population now typically watches the final, and

• This year’s World Cup earned FIFA $15B (more than Somalia’s GDP)!

And yet… if football is the world’s favourite sport, why does everyone hate FIFA? And why are we briefing you on the matter?

There are a few reasons, starting with…

1. The president 

Infantino himself is (ahem) not well-liked. Adjectives you might consider include ‘self-aggrandising’: his name appears twice on the Club World Cup trophy!

While we’re at it, let’s add ‘thin-skinned’: he posted a 14-slide text carousel on Instagram with real ‘sorry to my haters’ energy. Odd vibe for a guy who’s 56?

Okay we’re on a roll so let’s also go with ‘sycophantic’ for the way he cosies up to the rich and powerful: like renting Trump Tower office space, and seemingly creating an entire new FIFA Peace Prize for the US president.

And yes, it doesn’t help that he looks like Dr Evil from Austin Powers.

2. The corruption scandals 

Infantino’s own rise actually started with a huge scandal: back in 2015, Swiss cops arrested several top FIFA executives at Zurich’s Baur au Lac hotel on US corruption charges — turns out they were taking epic bribes to shape everything from clothing sponsorships, the 2010 host selection process, and FIFA’s 2011 presidential election.

This all fried so many FIFA careers, it actually paved the way for Infantino to emerge as an anti-corruption candidate. But the association’s reputation never really recovered. In fact, it’s only gotten worse, with accusations of… 

3. Cosying up to autocrats 

Beyond his promises to clean up FIFA, Infantino also pledged to expand the sport beyond its European roots, which sounds great in theory, but in practice…

He’s vigorously defended Qatar’s 2022 World Cup (which cost thousands of worker lives), and oversaw a ehm… unique ✌️voting✌️ process that awarded hosting rights for both 2030 (Spain, Morocco, Portugal) and 2034 (Saudi Arabia), no competition.

Plus it doesn’t help that Saudi Arabia poured $1B into the ‘DAZN’ sports streamer, right after DAZN poured an overpriced $1B into FIFA for streaming rights, in a deal done the same week the Saudis won 2034 hosting rights.

Infantino has also brought the travelling FIFA Congress meeting to champions of freedom like (*checks notes*) Russia and Bahrain.

Some counter that this is just Europeans whining about losing football’s centre of gravity, but it's not only Europeans who accuse FIFA of…  

4. Selling out the sport

Mr Infantino has now unveiled his latest proposal: establishing a spin-off venture – Fifa Forward Enterprise – that’d control the commercial rights: think TV, tickets, sponsorships. He’s then proposing to sell minority stakes to private investors led by none other than Joshua Kushner (yes, brother to Trump’s son-in-law).

FIFA’s 211 member associations (representing all of us) now have until 19 September to back Infantino’s plan, and in the meantime, he’s now offering them a one-time $20M payment in exchange for endorsement!

He pitches the idea as a boost for the world’s smaller football countries and “the democratisation of football worldwide”, though maybe genuine democratisation would open the investment up to tender rather than Kushner?

Unsurprisingly, not everyone’s convinced. 

Europe’s powerful Uefa football association has condemned the plan as a way to “use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends”, while its influential Concacaf counterpart in the Americas is unhappy about the lack of consultation.

Even world leaders like the UK’s new Andy Burnham are weighing in, declaring “football does not belong to investors.”

But here’s the kicker. Even notorious former FIFA president Sepp Blatter — impressively somehow banned from football by FIFA’s own ethics committee! — warned, “the close relationship between the Fifa president and the US president has reached a financial dimension that is deeply damaging football. No-one has the right to sell our game.”

Sound even smarter:

• FIFA is based in Zurich and has been around since 1904.

• President Trump has reportedly floated Infantino as a contender to be the next UN boss, though given the current state of the UN, surely Infantino would see that as a demotion?