3 min readUpdated: Aug 5, 2026 06:59 PM IST
Former Portugal player Luis Figo was the latest to call for FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s resignation after the latter’s failed attempt to sell stakes in profits from future World Cups. News of the secretive deal has triggered a stunning drop in fortunes for Infantino, with European football confederation UEFA leading calls for him to no longer be president of UEFA.
“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 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,” Figo said on X.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Figo had even called Infantino’s plan as the “lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed.”
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
“I could write 10,000 words on the problems at Fifa. But the solution needs only three: Infantino must go. I have loved football all my life. I was a professional player for 20 years. And believe me, I have met some rogues in my time in the game. But what I have seen exposed in the last 10 days is the lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed,” he said.
“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. Infantino has debased the office of Fifa president that he promised to elevate,” Figo added. He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve,” he wrote.
On wednesday, Jordan FA chief Prince Ali bin Hussein has accused Infantino of “blackmail,” alleging that FIFA offered to resolve the kingdom’s footballing problems in exchange for his political endorsement.
Prince Ali, a former FIFA vice president, also claimed that his federation has still not received prize money owed for reaching the final of the FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar last December. He described the withholding of funds as a form of blackmail.
