U.S. Soccer finally puts its foot down on the Gianni Infantino FIFA scandal, demands ‘meaningful change’

As the scandal around FIFA president Gianni Infantino continues to upend the soccer world, the U.S. Soccer Federation has finally offered the kind of strong words that fans have been waiting for.

In a joint statement Monday with Canada Soccer and regional entities in Central America and the Caribbean, U.S. Soccer said they all “stand together, along with our colleagues around the world, in calling for meaningful change that strengthens FIFA’s governance, transparency and accountability.”

It wasn’t a direct call for Infantino’s head, but it was as close as one could come politely. And it came on the heels of another fiery statement from Concacaf early Monday morning, this time offered jointly with the Asian and European confederations.

“When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned,” the statement said.

While Infantino again was not named directly, the words were clearly aimed at him. One source with knowledge of the matter framed the statement in the political terms of an invitation to resign peacefully before things get any hotter.

The statement was notably signed not just by the confederations, but with the names of all three bodies’ presidents and general secretaries. That will sting Infantino’s pride, as the three regional presidents are also FIFA vice presidents: Concacaf’s Victor Montagliani of Canada, Asia’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, and Europe’s Aleksander Čeferin of Slovenia.

» READ MORE: Concacaf and UEFA step up attacks on Gianni Infantino, call for a ‘comprehensive reckoning’ with FIFA president

They took further aim at Infantino’s desire to privatize the World Cup by creating a company within FIFA — a non-profit — and selling shares to investors including Josh Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared.

FIFA has said it is no longer considering the plan, but critics aren’t satisfied yet.

“It did not acknowledge that the proposal itself was inherently wrong,” Monday’s statement said. “There remains no recognition that attempting to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup was a profound failure of judgment — not just a procedural misstep, but a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions FIFA exists to serve.”

The statement also pointed at Infantino’s crisis meeting at FIFA’s satellite office in Rabat, Morocco, last Wednesday — instead of the real headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland — and how no members of FIFA’s official governing council were invited to attend.

» READ MORE: Europe maintains World Cup boycott threat after Gianni Infantino’s FIFA crisis meeting

Instead, there were just a few members of FIFA’s “Management Committee,” an entity few people even knew existed before now. Some of those members who did not attend included chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who a few days before then slammed Infantino in a statement by saying the president “deceived” FIFA staff, “and if that means I lose my job, then so be it.”

FIFA’s chief football officer, former U.S. women’s national team coach Jill Ellis, also was not at that meeting. Nor was another coaching legend who’s now a FIFA executive, Arsène Wenger, who had said it was “absolutely necessary” to ditch the privatization idea.

But while much of the world has turned against Infantino, it’s far from unanimous. The South American and African confederations have given him strong backing.

There also is not unanimity with in Concacaf. Mexico’s federation publicly backed Infantino on Friday, which raised a lot of eyebrows.

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Still, the signers of Monday’s statement cover the entire rest of Concacaf: the U.S., Canada, the 31 members of the Caribbean Football Union, and the seven in the Central American Football Union.

A source with knowledge of the matter said Mexico is allowed to have its own opinion, but currently stands alone within the region.

There are still lots of questions about the whole situation, and a long way to go for everything to play out. For now, though, it’s safe to say two issues stand above the rest.

The first is whether, if Infantino doesn’t resign, someone will run against him for the presidency next year. Montagliani has been floated as a candidate, but he hasn’t yet said if he’s going to do it. A candidate must have five nominations from FIFA member nations, and the deadline is Nov. 18.

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Coincidentally, that’s five days before the long-planned FIFA Congress to confirm the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica as hosts of the 2031 women’s World Cup. It will be interesting to see how that goes, especially if Montagliani is in the race.

The second question could require an answer soonest. UEFA is still threatening to boycott all FIFA competitions. It said last Thursday that “assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again,” and those haven’t come.

That puts next month’s under-20 World Cup in Poland in the spotlight. Right now, Concacaf is not threatening to join the boycott threat. But since the tournament will take place in Europe, fans will naturally wonder if Poland will refuse not only to play in it, but to host it.

None of the sources The Inquirer has spoken with have wished that on the players, but there’s a widespread understanding that it might have to happen in order to keep hitting Infantino hard.

There have also been questions behind the scenes about whether Concacaf, UEFA, and the AFC could organize something among themselves, but the discussions have been very preliminary.

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