German Football Federation (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf said that FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s reform proposal is an “obvious manoeuvre” to secure his reelection next year.
“It seems like FIFA has finally realized that changes are essential. However, Gianni Infantino is definitely not the right person to lead a reform process. He has completely lost all of his credibility,” Neuendorf told dpa on Tuesday.
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Infantino has offered talks on possible reforms at world football’s governing body amid mounting criticism of his leadership, according to a letter seen by dpa on Monday.
In the letter to the heads of FIFA’s 211 member associations and members of the FIFA Council, he proposed an independent external review of FIFA’s governance and consultations on strengthening its decision-making processes, including the role of the president.
He made it clear, however, that he intends to continue leading FIFA and there was no suggestion that he would abandon a bid for a fourth term at the FIFA Congress in March 2027, as critics led by UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin have demanded.
Infantino, 56, came under fire recently over eventually scrapped plans to sell stakes in FIFA competitions such as the World Cup to private investors.
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In the biggest crisis of his tenure since he took office in 2016, Europe’s UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA events and is preparing a lawsuit in connection with the investor plans on suspicion of breach of fiduciary duty.
UEFA and CONCACAF have taken a hard line against Infantino in recent weeks, although they have yet to put forward a challenger for the FIFA presidency.
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