{"id":35660,"date":"2026-09-30T20:16:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/gianni-infantino-fifa-president-has-no-place-in-future-of-football-says-computer-hacker-rui-pinto\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T20:16:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:16:38","slug":"gianni-infantino-fifa-president-has-no-place-in-future-of-football-says-computer-hacker-rui-pinto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/gianni-infantino-fifa-president-has-no-place-in-future-of-football-says-computer-hacker-rui-pinto\/","title":{"rendered":"Gianni Infantino: Fifa president has &#8216;no place in future of football&#8217;, says computer hacker Rui Pinto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">The computer hacker who released documents which led to the Premier League investigation into Manchester City says Fifa president Gianni Infantino &#8220;should have no place in the future of the game&#8221;.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">City have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/articles\/c63reg93xwzro\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">been found guilty <\/a>of all breaching Premier League financial rules over a nine-year period, though they continue to deny any wrongdoing and have until 2 October to submit an appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Premier League investigation was launched following information released into the public domain by the Football Leaks website in 2018, via German publication Der Spiegel, and following a separate investigation by European football&#8217;s governing body Uefa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RuiPinto_FL\/status\/2105327813079576764?s=20\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">message on X<span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">, <!-- -->external<\/span><\/a>, Rui Pinto, creator of Football Leaks, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/46078651\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">repeated allegations from 2018<\/a> that Infantino intervened to help City and Paris St-Germain avoid financial fair play sanctions from European football&#8217;s governing body Uefa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">According to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/football-documents-show-secret-plans-for-elite-league-of-top-clubs-a-1236447.html\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">report by Der Spiegel<span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">, <!-- -->external<\/span><\/a>, the clubs overvalued sponsorship deals to help meet FFP rules and, when facing sanctions over the matter, the allegations in the documents state Infantino helped arrange more lenient punishments for them in 2014.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A PSG statement at the time said it &#8220;has always acted in full compliance with the laws and regulations enacted by sports institutions&#8221; and it &#8220;denies the allegations&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Since the introduction of Financial Fair Play, Paris St-Germain have been one of the most audited and scrutinised clubs in history,&#8221; the club added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Back in 2014, there was a man who was already aware of the irregularities involving Manchester City,&#8221; 37-year-old Portuguese Pinto wrote on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The infamous Gianni Infantino, then Uefa general secretary, abused his authority, shared confidential documents and, in short, outmanoeuvred the investigatory chamber, doing everything in his power to ensure that both Manchester City and PSG would merely receive a fine, avoiding a deeper investigation that could have led to a Champions League ban.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;All of these details were also revealed through Football Leaks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Given his actions as Uefa general secretary and, more recently, as Fifa president, I can only say, in my humble opinion, that Gianni Infantino has become a cancer on football and should have no place in the future of the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When the allegations first surfaced, Uefa stressed that it was within the remit of the general secretary to assist in such matters, adding: &#8220;This may include discussions, meetings, assistance to help find solutions, and other interactions to assist the [investigating body] in its work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Infantino similarly pointed to how his &#8220;job entails having discussions, having conversations, exchanging documents, drafts, ideas, whatever, on many, many, many, many, topics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;So if then this is being portrayed as something bad, I think there&#8217;s not much I can do more than my job in an honest way, in a professional way and trying to defend the interests of football.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">BBC Sport has contacted Fifa following Pinto&#8217;s latest statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Infantino has come under increasing pressure following his now-shelved plans to sell stakes in the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">European football&#8217;s governing body Uefa accused Infantino of &#8220;criminal mismanagement&#8221; over the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, while the Swiss Football Association (SFV) is the latest association to withdraw its support for the Fifa president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The decision follows a comprehensive reassessment of developments over the past few months,&#8221; an SFV statement read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;From the SFV&#8217;s perspective, various incidents raise fundamental questions regarding leadership, governance, transparency and decision-making processes within Fifa.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Both Fifa and Uefa are based in Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Infantino will stand for election for a fourth time in March 2027, with his opponents having until 18 November to find an alternative candidate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/articles\/cm0rekrpxnl1o?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The computer hacker who released documents which led to the Premier League investigation into Manchester City says Fifa president Gianni Infantino &#8220;should have no place in the future of the game&#8221;. City have been found guilty of all breaching Premier League financial rules over a nine-year period, though they continue to deny any wrongdoing and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35662,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35660\/revisions\/35662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}