Mattias Grafström distances himself from Gianni Infantino in letter to FIFA staff | OneFootball

Mattias Grafström, FIFA’s secretary general, has distanced himself from Gianni Infantino in a letter to staff, assuring colleagues they will be protected while tacitly criticising the president. Le Monde reports the letter was sent on Tuesday.

For the first time he addressed the furore over Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup via FIFA Forward Entreprise, a proposal dropped shortly afterwards after provoking resistance across the game.

Grafström said the past week had been both exceptional and exhausting for FIFA employees and that the crisis was not yet over. He wrote that staff had been plunged into turmoil that was hard to understand or accept, which is why he wanted them to hear from him first.

He described a series of regrettable events that culminated in the definitive scrapping of the FFE project, adding that this should not obscure FIFA’s successful delivery of the 2026 World Cup.

Without naming Infantino, he told employees they would be defended and protected amid the current political climate. He added that individuals, periods of instability and unfortunate episodes pass.

In post since late 2023, Grafström succeeded Fatma Samoura, who resigned after her role was gradually reduced by Infantino’s centralisation of power. His intervention further unsettles Infantino’s position, after number three Kevin Lamour branded it the project of a single person. On Tuesday morning Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, also criticised the plan, saying that dropping it was absolutely necessary.

Source: L'Équipe

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