Norwegian Football Federation president calls for Infantino to resign
· Yahoo Sports
Norway FA president Lise Klaveness has called on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to resign, saying there is no trust in his leadership, even after he walked back his plan to sell shares of the World Cup to private investors.
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Infantino unveiled the scheme, branded FIFA Forward Enterprise, shortly after a financially successful Men's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. But the idea generated a backlash, with UEFA threatening to boycott FIFA competitions - a threat still on the table even after Infantino withdrew the proposal and said Wednesday, August 5 that he apologized.
But Klaveness said the apology didn't feel sincere, and the Norwegian Football Federation board is calling for the president to step down.
"He must resign now," she said at a news conference Friday, August 7 at the Ullevaal Stadion, home to Norway's national teams. "He does not have the institutional trust required to govern FIFA stably in the times we are in. There is no going back for Gianni Infantino."
In addition to the FFE plan, the NFF board said it plans to file a complaint with the ethics committee asking for an explanation of the process of awarding U.S. President Donald Trump the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize and for a review of the suspension of U.S. forward Folarin Balogun's red card ahead of the Americans' World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium.
“We want the ethics committee to show their work transparently because this is a very big part of the issue,” Klaveness told The Guardian. “There are all kinds of control mechanisms in place but they are not really holding the council and president accountable.”
Infantino is up for re-election at the March 2027 FIFA Council meeting and is yet to draw an official challenger, but the situation may change sooner than next year's meeting.
UEFA's boycott threat will come to a head in early fall, with the U-20 Women's World Cup in Poland set to kick off Sept. 5. The French Football Federation told the BBCon Friday, August 7 that it still plans to participate in the competition.
The senior women's teams are set for Women's World Cup qualification in October ahead of the 2027 tournament in Brazil.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Norwegian Football Federation president calls for Infantino to resign