Fifa has launched a fierce defence of president Gianni Infantino, condemning what it describes as a “concerted and ongoing effort” to undermine the organisation.
The governing body’s statement follows a Daily Telegraph report alleging that Infantino’s alleged lover received a severance payment from Uefa after he had an affair while serving as its general secretary.
A Fifa spokesperson told the Telegraph that Infantino “strongly denies” the allegations and that they are “categorically untrue.”
Fifa itself has now attacked what it calls “unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims,” insisting that “speculation and insinuation should not be presented as fact.”
The embattled president has faced mounting pressure from Uefa and European football associations following his aborted Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal, known as the FFE.
The FFE scheme would have created a new company to manage commercial and ticketing rights, with 21 per cent sold to a private investment firm.
Uefa declared it had lost confidence in Infantino, while Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness called on the Swiss-Italian to resign on Friday.
European football’s governing body has also confirmed its threat to boycott Fifa events remains active, saying assurances the FFE plan cannot be revived have not been received.
“The Fifa president was democratically elected by Fifa’s Member Associations and continues to serve with their mandate,” Fifa said in its Saturday statement.
Opposition to Infantino has been largely confined to Europe, with the Mexican Football Federation breaking ranks with its regional governing body Concacaf to publicly back the president.
Mexico echoed a statement from Conmebol, South America’s governing body, rejecting any attempt to remove Infantino without a vote involving all 211 Fifa member countries.
Infantino is also unanimously backed by the 54 nations of the Confederation of African Football, further strengthening his position against European critics.
The Fifa chief called members of the management board to a meeting in Rabat, Morocco on Wednesday to address the growing crisis around the FFE proposal.
Fifa issued a joint statement on behalf of Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, apologising for the FFE plan while warning it would “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process.”
Saturday’s late-night statement was equally defiant, declaring that “change inevitably challenges established interests, but disagreement with that change cannot justify efforts to undermine the democratic mandate of Fifa’s president.”
“Fifa welcomes legitimate scrutiny. But scrutiny is not a licence to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations or manufacture distractions designed to undermine progress,” the statement read.
Fifa confirmed it would challenge inaccurate or misleading reporting “directly and vigorously,” signalling an increasingly combative stance toward its critics.
