Critics of world football’s governing body are spreading “fake news” and taking part in “FIFA bashing”, says president Gianni Infantino.<\/p>\n
FIFA’s decision this week not to reappoint ethics chiefs Hans-Joachim Eckert and Cornel Borbely means an end to the reform process, the pair said.<\/p>\n
Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter is serving a six-year ban from football for ethics breaches.<\/p>\n
“We took over the organisation at its deepest point,” said Infantino.<\/p>\n
“We are rebuilding Fifa’s reputation after all that happened.”<\/p>\n
Infantino, 47, took over as Fifa president in January 2016 after the 81-year-old Blatter’s 17-year reign ended in a corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
Chief investigator Borbely and ethics adjudicator Eckert said “hundreds” of cases of alleged wrongdoing – some involving senior officials – were being looked into by Fifa’s ethics committee before they were ousted.<\/p>\n
In response to their claims, Fifa released a statement on Wednesday, saying it wanted to “better reflect the geographic and gender diversity that must be a part of an international organisation like FIFA”.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of fake news and alternative facts about Fifa circulating,” said Infantino, speaking before the Fifa congress in Bahrain.<\/p>\n
“FIFA bashing has become a national sport in some countries. It was right but FIFA has changed now.”<\/p>\n
Last month, high-ranking Fifa official Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabahresigned a day after denying claims linking him to a fraud case. He denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
Infantino said the “new FIFA” under his leadership was a “transparent organisation” that was not “fiddling around”.<\/p>\n
He added: “If there is anyone who still thinks that he can enrich himself and he can abuse football, I have one plea for them – leave football now. We don’t want you.”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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