Gianni Infantino, Fifa and the week that rocked the football world

Plan for sale of commercial rights to World Cup causes chaos with Uefa, AFC and Concacaf leading the opposition It has been a week that has rocked football. The news caught everyone by surprise. When reports first emerged on Tuesday afternoon that Fifa, world football’s governing body, was to launch a vehicle to control the commercial rights to the World Cup , and would sell a stake of this company to investors, even members of the central decision-making body, the Fifa Council, hadn’t known about it. But it was equally the case that the story – first broken by the Times – caught Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, unawares. Fifa were rushed into announcing a plan they had wanted to keep under wraps for longer, and in the full glare of global media interest. Continue reading...