German football boss blasts Infantino over lack of transparency

Berlin (AFP) – German Football Federation president Reinhard Grindel has launched a withering attack on FIFA president Gianni Infantino over a lack of transparency on proposals for new competitions in an interview with Sportbuzzer.de published on Wednesday.

“With this lack of transparency on these questions he is reinforcing the prejudices against FIFA,” said Grindel. 

“It is why I am insisting with my UEFA colleagues in the FIFA Council on the creation of a task force where all the information can be laid out on the table and we can determine with honesty if we need other competitions and if so what format they should take.”

Infantino has long envisaged the creation of an international nations league and a Club World Cup expanded to 24 teams. In November he told AFP that it was the best way to fight the possibility of a breakaway Super League. 

The vague proposal to sell FIFA rights for $25 billion over 12 years to finance the club tournament also concerns Grindel. 

“I would be satisfied if FIFA launched an open process of discussion and if the principals concerned, that is the clubs, the leagues and the federations were involved in the discussions,” he said.

Grindel’s concerns echo those made by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin at the start of December.

“We still have a lot of difficulties with these two proposals,” said Ceferin who was particularly ambivalent about the Club World Cup which would be “financed by a fund whose origins and names of supporters are unknown.”