The FA chair wants the paperwork
Debbie Hewitt has stopped asking politely. The chair of England’s Football Association, who also sits as a FIFA vice president, has demanded that Gianni Infantino hand over every document tied to his abandoned plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors. Multiple outlets reported the request on Thursday.
Her demand does not stop there. Hewitt also wants the file on the decision to wipe out Folarin Balogun’s red card during this summer’s tournament, a call that arrived after U.S. President Donald Trump said he phoned Infantino directly to ask for a review. Balogun served no suspension and was available for the United States in the next round against Belgium, a game the Americans lost 4-1.
Try it for $0.99.
Infantino’s support keeps thinning
The private equity proposal has cost Infantino more goodwill than anything else in his decade at the top of the organisation. National federations threatened boycotts. Several called for him to step aside. UEFA and a group of member associations only dropped their plan to skip this month’s U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland once FIFA guaranteed the investor scheme would not return.
Laura McAllister, a UEFA vice president, took the argument public on Thursday. She told ESPN the proposal “struck at the very heart of the principles of the game” and then listed her other grievances: the way World Cups are awarded, human rights, and the FIFA Peace Prize handed to Trump in December 2025 without the consultation such a decision would normally require.
Hewitt’s own federation has been among the loudest voices since the plan surfaced, and the English FA has not softened its position now that the scheme is dead.
A vote hanging over all of it
Timing explains part of the pressure. Infantino was first elected on 26 February 2016. His current mandate runs to 2027, and he has already declared he will stand again, a win taking him through to 2031. Anything Hewitt pries loose before that ballot lands in the hands of whoever decides to run against him.
FIFA has not said whether it intends to release a single page.
Discover the rest of our football news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply