{"id":575466,"date":"2026-08-21T03:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T03:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575466\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T03:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T03:14:12","slug":"global-petition-urges-fifa-boss-to-resign-over-world-cup-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/575466\/","title":{"rendered":"Global petition urges FIFA boss to resign over World Cup ‘betrayal’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A collection of football fan groups from around the world launched a petition Friday calling for Gianni Infantino<\/a> to resign as FIFA president after he tried to sell future World Cup profits<\/a> to private investors.<\/a><\/p>\n

The petition with the hashtag InfantinOut also calls for FIFA “to be rebuilt so that the current debacle can never happen again”.<\/p>\n

“The shameful attempt by one individual \u2014 the FIFA President himself<\/a> \u2014 to sell off the World Cup to private investors exposed a betrayal football will never forget,” the petition said about Infantino’s plan for a commercial spinoff, which he dropped amid a furious backlash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FIFA<\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino follows a friendly soccer match between Iran and Costa Rica, in Antalya, southern Turkey, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The fan groups include Football Supporters Europe, Football Supporters Africa and, in North America, the Independent Supporters Council, plus about 40 national fan groups worldwide.<\/p>\n

Infantino has resisted calls to leave office<\/a> despite European fotball body UEFA saying it has no confidence in him. He has also been criticised by the leadership of North America\u2019s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation.<\/p>\n

Some of FIFA’s 211 member federations are supporting Infantino, including 2030 World Cup co-host Morocco as well as Qatar, where he lived before the emirate hosted the 2022 World Cup, and Lebanon, which gave him citizenship this year. Saudi Arabia, the 2034 host, has not publicly backed Infantino despite his close political ties to the kingdom.<\/p>\n

\"FIFA<\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, centre, follows a friendly match between Iran and Costa Rica, in Antalya, southern Turkey, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cGianni Infantino has demonstrated a profound failure of leadership, incompatible with democratic governance,\u201d the fan petition states. \u201cThe concentration of power around the FIFA Presidency, combined with opaque decision-making, personality cult clientelism, and zero accountability has destroyed any remaining trust in the world governing body.”<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the credibility of FIFA \u2014 and for the future of the game \u2014 he must resign,\u201d the petition adds.<\/p>\n

FIFA was approached for comment about the petition.<\/p>\n

Fan anger at World Cup ticket prices<\/p>\n

The petition also cites Infantino\u2019s past support for projects that outraged fans, including the failed European Super League project, pushing to hold World Cups every two years that was resisted and the \u201cextortionate ticketing policy at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA and Infantino did not consult with fan groups before setting record ticket prices for the 104-game tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, that provoked anger and led to some tickets being sold for $60 to the most loyal fans of each of the 48 teams.<\/p>\n

Football Supporters Europe is the official liaison for fans with UEFA and advises on ticket prices for European Championships and club cup finals like the Champions League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A collection of football fan groups from around the world launched a petition Friday calling for Gianni Infantino…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1122,2966,111,139,69,213,1745],"class_list":["post-575466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-employment","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}