Infantino hoping individual country federations will be his salvation

LONDON: There is usually a lull after a World Cup, as the global football family takes a deep breath before the club season begins, but not this summer.

FIFA’s turmoil has dominated headlines and, as the Saudi Pro League kicks off on Thursday, the politics off the pitch is attracting almost as much attention as the football. Nobody knows what will happen next, but the consequences could be seismic.

Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights to private American investors, first reported by The Times on July 28, provoked a furious backlash.

On Monday, UEFA, the AFC and Concacaf issued an unprecedented joint statement accusing FIFA’s leadership of breaking trust “through deception” and calling for an independent review of the abandoned plan. UEFA has also threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments.

The past month has been a whirlwind. Earlier in July, more than 200 of FIFA’s 211 member associations endorsed the Swiss-Italian official, who has been president since 2016, for another term.

March’s election appeared destined to be a coronation rather than a contest. Now, however, Infantino is not just fighting to win an election, but to remain in office until the vote.

The reason is simple. Three major confederations may have turned against him — although the leader of the Confederation of African Football has backed his leadership and Oceania has called for time to examine the situation.

But any election will be decided by individual associations, each of which has one vote. Infantino retains support among a number of them.

Argentina, Mexico, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Qatar are among those to have expressed support for the incumbent. Bhutan’s president, Ugen Tsechup, has also praised