FIFA Civil War Deepens as Arsene Wenger Turns on Infantino

Gianni Infantino is facing one of the biggest challenges of his presidency after senior FIFA officials publicly rejected his controversial proposal to sell part of the governing body's commercial and event operations.

The FIFA president has now called an emergency meeting in Rabat, Morocco, as pressure continues to grow from inside football's governing body.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the position taken by Arsene Wenger.

The former Arsenal manager, who has worked as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development since 2019, distanced himself from the proposal and insisted he only learned about it through media reports.

"The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question," Wenger said. He added that he believes in "an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency and integrity."

His comments represent a major blow for Infantino because Wenger has previously supported several of the FIFA president's biggest ideas, including the proposal to stage the men's World Cup every two years.

The criticism did not stop there.

FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, one of Infantino's closest allies, admitted staff had endured "a sad and reproachable series of events" and urged employees to remain focused despite what he described as political turmoil inside the organisation.

Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali also launched a fierce attack on FIFA's leadership.

He accused the organisation of trying to pressure Jordan into supporting Infantino's re-election by allegedly linking unpaid prize money from the FIFA Arab Cup to political backing.

"The whole situation amounts to blackmail," Prince Ali wrote on social media. "We refuse to give in to that."

Prince Ali, who twice ran against Infantino for the FIFA presidency, also claimed Jordanian supporters struggled to obtain visas to attend their country's historic first FIFA World Cup.

The controversy has already claimed one senior figure.

Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned after describing the investment proposal as "a bad deal for football" that would "mortgage football's future."

Infantino now faces an uncomfortable reality.

Opposition is no longer coming only from rival football officials.

It is coming from inside FIFA itself.

When respected figures such as Wenger, Grafstrom and Prince Ali publicly question the organisation's direction, it raises fresh doubts about whether confidence in FIFA's leadership is beginning to crack from within.