Gianni Infantino has summoned senior FIFA officials to a hotel in Morocco for crisis talks as pressure mounts on the FIFA president, after Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali bin Hussein accused him of blackmail.
Infantino has come under intense scrutiny since plans to sell £3.1 billion in World Cup stakes leaked last week. The Swiss football administrator has since scrapped the proposals after widespread opposition, including an internal rebellion at FIFA.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) are both calling for Infantino to step down, with Europe declaring a lack of confidence in the FIFA president.
Jordan is the first Asian nation to rebel against Infantino, taking the total to 91 nations, assuming all UEFA and CONCACAF members follow the stance set by their continental bodies. A total of 106 nations are needed to depose Infantino as president.
Blackmail accusation
In a statement, Hussein accused Infantino of delaying prize money payments to Jordan and refusing to address the problem unless the country endorsed him for a fourth term at the helm of world football.
"There is no shortage of issues regarding FIFA. Let me start by clarifying what some of these are from an FA perspective, in particular that of Jordan going into a World Cup for the first time," Hussein said.
"We are a small country with a minimal budget for our FA and had to deal with enormous hurdles."
Visa costs and unpaid prize money
"First, getting our fans into the USA: not all were granted visas, even though they had tickets - which we also know were sold at exorbitant prices," Hussein said. "Secondly, we are being taxed by the US government through FIFA for our participation. Money that should go to players and staff."
"This was not the case for those who played and set up camp in Canada and Mexico. But we happened to be in the USA so now we face these huge costs in taxes for having participated," he said.
"Thirdly we have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event," Hussein said. "The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve."
'It amounts to blackmail'
"It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters - until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out," Hussein said.
"We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that."
Who is Prince Ali bin Hussein?
Prince Ali bin Hussein, a member of Jordan's royal family, leads the Jordan Football Association and previously ran against Infantino for the FIFA presidency in 2016. Jordan is competing at its first World Cup.
FIFA has been contacted for comment.
