Luis Figo has called on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to leave his position, accusing him of pursuing a proposed World Cup investment plan for personal and political gain.
The former Portugal, Barcelona and Real Madrid player made the comments in an article published by the British newspaper Daily Mail on Wednesday.
Figo opened his piece with a direct call for change, writing: “I can write 10,000 words about FIFA’s problems. But the solution only needs three: Infantino must go.”
The 20-year professional footballer said he had encountered dishonest figures during his career, but claimed the events of the previous 10 days had been the worst conduct he had witnessed in the sport.
“I have loved football all my life. I was a professional player for 20 years. And believe me, I met some crooks in my career in the game… but what I have seen unfold over the past 10 days is the most degraded, deceitful and cowardly selfish behaviour I have ever witnessed,” he wrote.
Figo criticised the person behind the proposed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to investors, saying such a figure should not influence the future of football.
“The man who does that – the man who tries to force through major changes like this simply to enrich himself and his friends – is a relic of the game’s past and should have no role in its future,” he said.
He questioned why FIFA’s members had not been informed about the proposal when they were gathered together before the World Cup final.
“If the idea is so good, why did you not tell your members when they were all gathered in one room before the World Cup final? If the plan is so strong and robust, why did you not tell your members about the risks as well as what you describe as the benefits?” Figo wrote.
He also challenged Infantino over an alleged future salary of $30m a year connected to the plan.
“If the idea is so obvious and a no-brainer, why were you not honest about the fact that it would eventually give you a job paying $30m a year?” he added.
“But none of that happened. Because it is not a good idea. It is not robust when you fail to be transparent about the suffocating returns always sought by private capital, and it is not bold when you fail to explain that once you sell your share, it is gone forever, and you have denied your successors ownership of the World Cup.”
Figo said the proposal was also dishonest because it did not, in his view, disclose the potential benefit Infantino could receive from investors in Washington.
“And it is not honest when you fail to mention that after handing the top of the World Cup on a golden plate to your friends in Washington, they will give you a job worth five times your current salary,” he wrote.
He linked his criticism to a series of controversies surrounding FIFA and the 2026 World Cup, referring to disciplinary decisions being suspended and reversed and to alleged breaches of the laws of the game over a half-time show.
“None of this is surprising if you look at the string of abuses he has inflicted on the reputation of football; from suspending and reversing disciplinary decisions to breaking the laws of the game because of a half-time show, nothing stands in the way of pleasing his friends,” Figo said.
He also cited comments by Prince Ali, the president of the Jordan Football Association, which he said highlighted “gangster-like” behaviour by Infantino’s FIFA. Figo accused the organisation of obstructing the Jordan Football Association’s work and funding in order to secure a nomination letter and extend what he described as an era of “terrible selfishness”.
Figo concluded by comparing the proposal with the European Super League.
“This plan – like the Super League before it – exploded because the media exposed all its twists and deceptions before its supporters could arrange their messages. And thank goodness it exploded,” he wrote.
