FIFA firing spree is all Infantino’s work
THE full skulduggery behind FIFA president Gianni Infantino sacking his two ethics chamber leaders has been revealed by Germany’s new FIFA Council member Reinhard Grindel.
Grindel made it clear it was Infantino alone who was responsible for removing Cornel Borbely and Hans- Joachim Eckert as chairman of the investigatory and judicial committees respectively.
Both men had wanted to serve another fouryear term because they were still in the process of probing hundreds of cases.
Borbely and Eckert claim Infantino’s purge of their chambers will be hugely damaging to FIFA’s fight against corruption. On top of the loss of so much specialist experience, it will take the pair’s replacements two years to learn the ropes.
Grindel broke ranks by explaining that he had asked secretary- general Fatma Samoura’s office whether there would be any ethics chamber changes the day before the FIFA Council summit. He was told there would not be changes. Samoura had also given 100 per cent support to Borbely and Eckert recently.
Grindel revealed: ‘I said in the meeting that we were satisfied with the work of both people and I asked because the gen sec made a statement in the media that they will support both, so it is very much the decision of the president (Infantino). And you will have to ask him why he made it.’
Borbely and Eckert were given no warning that they were about to be ousted before arriving at Manama airport last Tuesday night.
They had told FIFA of their wish to serve another four years, which is why they were not included in UEFA recommendations for the independent posts — a loophole FIFA spin doctors claimed was a reason for their removal.
The truth is that Infantino (above) did not want to work with two men appointed by his disgraced predecessor Sepp Blatter, but the way he engineered it is a massive PR own goal.
NO WONDER the FIFA Congress in Bahrain is alive with conspiracy theories when the judicial and investigatory leaders can be bounced out of office so easily. The best of the rumours is that FIFA deflected negative publicity around Eckert and Borbely by leaking that Manchester United were under investigation for Paul Pogba’s transfer from Juventus to Manchester United. In fact, Old Trafford had been asked to clarify details of the £89.3million move some time ago.
FIFA promised at the Marrakech Congress in December 2014 that the Garcia report into the murky 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids would be published in full when all the individual cases involved were complete. There are still around 10 to go and even after that the legal process for full clearance is going to take years — long after Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup.
UEFA chose to keep their distance from FIFA while in Bahrain, staying at the beachside Sofitel a good 45 minutes’ drive outside Manama. It was 38C in the midday sun but the wives of the Welsh top brass could still be found around the swimming pool.