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Gianni Infantino has “strongly” denied claims that a severance payment was made by UEFA to a female employee who was allegedly in a relationship with him during his previous role as the organisation’s general-secretary.
“FIFA President Gianni Infantino strongly denies these allegations, and they are categorically untrue. Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct or violation of statutes or regulations is defamatory,” a spokesman for the now FIFA president told the Daily Telegraph, who first reported the claims.
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“No employee at UEFA and FIFA has ever raised a complaint regarding Mr Infantino’s behaviour because there never was an incident where he was involved.”
However, UEFA has issued a statement saying that “a departure payment was made to the individual in question”, in addition to fees for an MBA course, which it said was “in line” with regulations.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday that UEFA had paid a six-figure sum to the woman, who allegedly had an affair with the married Infantino during his tenure as general-secretary at European football’s governing body.
FIFA did not immediately reply to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
The allegations come as the 56-year-old Italian-Swiss lawyer faces a career-threatening backlash over his aborted plans to sell off stakes in FIFA competitions to private investors.
UEFA, where Infantino served as general-secretary from 2009 to 2016, is now in open conflict with FIFA and, on Thursday, doubled down on last Saturday’s statement saying it no longer has “confidence” in Infantino.
UEFA repeated its threat of boycotting the World Cups and one of its member associations, the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) called for Infantino to go immediately.
“[The NFF] are going to ask the FIFA president to resign now,” said its straight-talking president, Lise Klaveness, on Friday.
However, the football associations of Mexico and Argentina were the latest to throw their weight behind the embattled world football chief, following the Confederation of African Football’s unanimous backing of Infantino’s leadership on Thursday.
South America’s CONMEBOL, meanwhile, expressed concerns over the “repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue”.
Infantino will almost certainly try to carry on his campaign to be elected for a fourth and final term in Rabat next March.
Infantino, who had spent the past turbulent week among friends in Morocco, who are cohosting the 2030 World Cup, is, for the moment, the only candidate.
The deadline for nominations is November 18.
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