The National Times - FIFA president Infantino 'must go', says ex-UEFA boss Platini

The 56-year-old Infantino has been under fire since his aborted plan to bring private investment into FIFA events, such as the World Cup.

He was also lambasted over a number of controversies during the recently-ended World Cup in North America.

"Economic affairs are one thing but Infantino has failed because he is the guarantor of the rules of the game and he didn't respect them," former UEFA president Platini told Canal+.

Platini hit out at the so-called hydration breaks at the World Cup, which often lasted as much as four minutes and were used by the host broadcaster for advertisements.

He also pointed to the half-time show during the final which largely overran the required maximum of 15 minutes, and the furore around FIFA suspending the red card ban given to American forward Folarin Balogun following a phone call made by US President Donald Trump to Infantino.

"The ad breaks are not in the rules, the 30-minute half-time break in the final is not in the rules, and the red card, that's the worst," said Platini.

"He's the guarantor (of the rules), he doesn't respect them, he must go," added Platini about Infantino, who was UEFA's secretary general under the Frenchman's leadership.

Since the World Cup, UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments until Infantino scrapped the FIFA Forward Enterprises plan to bring in private investment.

European football's governing body UEFA has also accused Infantino of "criminal mismanagement" over the private financing.

- 'He always loved money' -

Other regions, CONCACAF and Asia, have joined UEFA in putting pressure on Infantino, who is hoping to run for re-election in March.

"It won't be sporting institutions that sort this out and bring him down," Platini said.

"If UEFA wanta to bring down Infantino, it will be through the courts."

"I always knew that he loved money and power," Platini added about the Swiss-Italian.

Platini was himself accused of fraud in 2015 when he was UEFA president and eyeing the top job at FIFA to replace Sepp Blatter, who was likewise accused of giving an illegal 2-million-dollar payment to the Frenchman.

Platini was eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing in 2025 but was forced to step down at the time, with Infantino leaping on the opportunity to be elected FIFA president in his stead in 2016.

"He didn't bring me down, he benefitted from it," said Platini.

"But now that there are lots of investigations into him all over the world, there is some noise about how he knew about certain things -- let's see what happens next."

Platini is suing Infantino, and former FIFA officials Marco Villiger and Domenico Scala, in France "to seek compensation for all the damages he has suffered as a result of the tactics used to prevent him from being elected FIFA President in 2015".

He accuses the trio of a "criminal conspiracy to commit false accusation... influence peddling... and aiding and abetting influence peddling".

I.Paterson--TNT