FIFA chief Infantino’s ‘abuse of power’ questioned by Norway in complaints

The three complaints filed by Norway’s football body ask FIFA’s Ethics Committee to examine Infantino’s conduct. Save Share Embattled FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been accused of a potential abuse of power and conflict of interest after the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) filed formal complaints to two FIFA committees. Infantino’saborted planto open up the World Cup to private investors, thelifting of US forward Folarin Balogun’s suspensionat the 2026 World Cup following an intervention by United States President Donald Trump, and FIFA’s awarding of a so-calledPeace Prizeto Trump form the basis of the filings. The first filing made on Tuesday “asks the Ethics Committee to examine the conduct of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and any other individuals identified through the investigation for potential breaches of FIFA’s Code of Ethics”. The second filing is aimed at FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC) and “asks whether FIFA’s governance, financial oversight, internal controls and decision-making processes [have] worked as intended”. Lise Klaveness, the NFF’s straight-talking president and longtime critic of Infantino, told British media that Trump was the common thread in all three issues. The venture capital firm of Josh Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, was to be the chief investor in the ill-fated FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan. Infantino’splan, launched just after this year’s hugely successful World Cup cohosted by Canada, Mexico and the US in July, would have allowed private investors to acquire stakes in a company created under the FFE initiative. Thebacklash that followedled to Infantino making a humiliating climbdown within days. “FIFA Forward Enterprise is a governance issue, but it’s connected to the two other cases because [of] conflict of interest and abuse of position, potentially,” Klaveness said in her interview with a British newspaper. “There is a line between all these three cases, and it’s the same political regime.” Klaveness, a former international footballer, said Infantino had some serious questions to answer over a lack of transparency. Balogun’s red card in the last-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina during the World Cup resulted in an automatic suspension for the match with Belgium. But FIFA stepped in and suspended his ban, leading towidespread condemnation, especially when it emerged that Trump had intervened by phoning Infantino....