Former FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein on Tuesday criticized the soccer body's leadership headed by Gianni Infantino, describing prize money withheld from his Jordan national team as a kind of blackmail. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Prince Ali said the Jordanian federation he leads still has not been paid money due for reaching the final of the FIFA Arab Cup played last December in Qatar. In a social media post, Prince Ali said that during the World Cup — where Jordan made its debut in June — he was told if he endorsed FIFA President Gianni Infantino "it would go a long way to helping our FA out."
Infantino is under pressure to save his 11-year presidency amid a fierce backlash from global soccer leaders about his now-failed plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to investors led by Joshua Kushner.
"We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now," said Prince Ali, who placed third in a five-candidate FIFA presidential contest when Infantino was first elected in February 2016.
"But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that," the Jordanian royal wrote Tuesday.
The 2025 FIFA Arab Cup that Jordan lost in the title match against Morocco was set to pay $4.2 million to the beaten finalist, Jordanian media reported last year.
"The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet," Prince Ali wrote, "while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve."
"It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters," he said.
FIFA was approached for comment about the claims.
Prince Ali was elected by Asian soccer to serve on FIFA's ruling executive committee from 2011-15.