{"id":318189,"date":"2017-05-11T12:08:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T12:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=318189"},"modified":"2017-05-11T12:08:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T12:08:07","slug":"critics-are-fifa-bashing-and-spreading-fake-news-infantino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/05\/critics-are-fifa-bashing-and-spreading-fake-news-infantino\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics are ‘FIFA-bashing’ and spreading ‘fake news’ – Infantino"},"content":{"rendered":"
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":"
Critics of world football’s governing body are spreading “fake news” and taking part in “FIFA bashing”, says president Gianni Infantino. 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. Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter is serving a six-year ban from football […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[340,337],"yoast_head":"\n