Portuguese icon Luis Figo has unleashed a stunning tirade directed at Gianni Infantino after the FIFA president survived a crisis meeting of the governing body’s senior leadership team.
Infantino called the meeting in Morocco after a tumultuous week in which the 56-year-old’s position at the top of the global football food chain came under serious threat, following the backlash to his plan to sell off a stake in the operations of the World Cup.
FIFA released a statement after the meeting – which was attended by the organisation’s senior leadership team including Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom, who sent an internal staff memo a few days earlier that described the plans surrounding FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) as a “sad and reproachable series of events” – which said that “mistakes were acknowledged”, and “the process shuold have been handled differently”.
It also confirmed the controversial proposal is “now off the table”.
CIVIL WAR: Under-fire Infantino accused of ‘blackmail’
FIFA leadership holds constructive and positive meeting in Rabat, Morocco.
More details: https://t.co/6orsmB5FMb pic.twitter.com/8SQgVzUF1z
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) August 5, 2026
But that did little to pacify the uprising emerging from Europe, with former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan star Luis Figo – who ran for the FIFA presidency in 2015 and is now a UEFA football advisor – writing a scathing column in the UK’s Daily Mail in which he eviscerated Infantino.
“What I have seen exposed in the last 10 days is the lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed,” Figo wrote.
“The man who would do that – the man who would try to force through such major changes just to enrich himself and his friends – is a relic of the game’s past and should have no part in its future.
“None of this comes as a surprise when you consider the litany of abuses he has inflicted on football’s reputation; from suspending and reversing disciplinary decisions to breaking the laws of the game over a half-time show, nothing gets in the way of pleasing his friends.
“Infantino has debased the office of FIFA President that he promised to elevate. He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve.
“He has lost the support of his senior staff, his closest advisers, the vast majority of people who devote their lives to this sport and even, it would seem, the FIFA Peace Prize winner.
“It is too late to save his dignity but it is not too late to save football. He should go. Now.”
Today I join others from across our game and call for Gianni Infantino to resign as FIFA President.
Infantino has debased the office that he promised to elevate. He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve.
He has…
— Luís Figo (@LuisFigo) August 5, 2026
Figo joined a growing global chorus that is calling for football to move on from Infantino, a group that now also includes Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said “Certainly I don’t have confidence in Mr. Infantino.”
However having now survived this week’s crisis meeting, it seems unlikely there will be any challenge to the Swiss’s leadership until a potential formal vote at the next FIFA Congress in March 2027.
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