"It is too late to save his dignity but it is not too late to save football." That's Luis Figo, writing in the Daily Mail, calling on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to resign — and not pulling a single punch to get there.
The former Ballon d'Or winner tore into Infantino over his now-collapsed plan to bring private investment into the World Cup's commercial structure. Not just the plan itself, but the way it was cooked up — quietly, away from FIFA's own membership, with a $30 million-a-year executive role reportedly lined up for Infantino himself once his presidential term expires in 2031.
"If it was such a good idea, why not tell your members when you had them all in a room before the World Cup final?" Figo asked. It's a question nobody inside FIFA has managed to answer convincingly.
The walls are closing in
This isn't just one retired footballer venting. The criticism of Infantino has reached the top of the sport's governing structure. UEFA and Concacaf have both put out statements signalling a loss of confidence in his leadership. FIFA's own chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, described the investment proposal as "the project of one person." Former U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro — who served as a senior adviser to Infantino — quit last week and stated flatly that he opposed the plan "unequivocally."
The picture that emerges is of a FIFA president who tried to restructure world football's finances around himself, kept his own organisation in the dark, and got caught. Whether that's enough to actually remove him is another matter.
Infantino faces re-election in March and currently shows no sign of stepping down voluntarily. Which means the institutions that have expressed "dismay" will soon face a harder question: are they willing to do anything about it, or just issue statements?
Figo's verdict is unambiguous
Figo spent 20 years playing for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Inter. He ran for the FIFA presidency himself in 2015 before withdrawing. He knows how this world works — which is precisely what makes his language so striking.
"Infantino has debased the office of FIFA President that he promised to elevate," Figo wrote. "He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve."
Hard to walk that back. Hard to govern effectively with that on the record from someone of Figo's stature. Whether Infantino survives until March or not, the authority he needs to run world football has already taken serious, possibly irreparable damage.
