‘Infantino must go’: Luis Figo slams FIFA president after plans to sell a stake in the World Cup

Luis Figo has joined the growing chorus of voices calling for Gianni Infantino to step down as FIFA president, delivering one of the harshest public rebukes of his tenure.

“I could write 10,000 words on the problems at FIFA. But the solution needs only three: Infantino must go,” the Portuguese great wrote on Daily Mail, describing the FIFA president’s conduct as “the lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour” he had witnessed in football.

The criticism stems from a scrapped plan to sell a 20% stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights to private equity investors through a proposed entity called FIFA Forward Enterprise.

The proposal triggered fierce backlash across the sport, with UEFA, CONCACAF and other continental confederations warning it threatened the “soul and governance” of football, forcing Infantino to abandon the plan altogether.

Figo did not hold back in assigning blame, accusing Infantino of trying to push the changes through purely for personal gain. “He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game,” he wrote, adding that Infantino “has lost the support of his senior staff, his closest advisers, the vast majority of people who devote their lives to this sport“.

The failed plan cost Infantino dearly in trust

That loss of trust has been building for weeks. UEFA has publicly declared it no longer has confidence in Infantino, while federations including England and Wales have withdrawn their support for his re-election bid.

Senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest, calling the privatization plan “a bad business for football,” and council members opposed to Infantino were already said to be in double figures before the investment controversy fully erupted — with at least 19 of FIFA’s 37 council members needed to force an extraordinary general meeting that could formally challenge his leadership.