Despite strong pressure for him to resign, particularly from UEFA, Gianni Infantino convinced FIFA’s Board of Management to express their full support for him following a crisis meeting in Rabat on Wednesday. It was the latest development in a crisis that began with news last week of a FIFA plan to create a subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the men’s World Cup and its other events, with a stake of up to 20% to be offered to external investors.

Where did Gianni Infantino come from?

Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino was born on March 23, 1970, in the southwestern Swiss town of Brig to Italian parents. Many years later, as FIFA president, he would speak of the discrimination he said he experienced as he grew up for being of Italian heritage in Switzerland. Infantino studied law at the University of Fribourg, before becoming the general secretary of the International Centre for Sports Studies at the University of Neuchatel in 1997. The independent center had been founded two years earlier by FIFA in partnership with the university and the city and canton of Neuchatel.

What did Infantino do before FIFA?

Infantino, who speaks six languages, first gained notoriety beyond Switzerland after joining UEFA, football’s European governing body, in 2000. There, he would climb the corporate ladder to become the organization’s general secretary in 2009. Serving under former UEFA President Michel Platini, Infantino’s position kept him largely out of the public eye, but during this time his face became a familiar one to European football fans, as one of his roles was hosting the Champions League and Euros draws, broadcast live on TV. 

How did Infantino become FIFA president?

The door to the FIFA presidency was knocked open by the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal in which several officials were indicted, seven of whom were arrested at a Zurich hotel. This came just ahead of a FIFA Congress to elect a new president. Although Sepp Blatter won reelection for a fifth term, he announced his resignation just days later. An extraordinary FIFA Congress was called for February 2016.

Infantino looked a rank outsider when he threw his hat into the ring. Platini, his boss at UEFA, was the favorite, but he withdrew his candidacy a month before the election, after both he and Blatter had been banned over ethics violations involving a dubious payment. 

In the days leading up to the vote, Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain emerged as the frontrunner among the seven candidates. However, Infantino, running on a pledge to clean up what was a scandal-ridden organization, won the presidency in the second round of voting. He’d also promised to increase FIFA payments to every member association.

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“We will restore the image of FIFA and the respect of FIFA, and everyone in the world will applaud us and will applaud all of you for what we’ll do in FIFA in the future,” Infantino told the delegates in Zurich’s Hallenstadion.

What has Infantino done in power?

Gianni Infantino has presided over a decade of unprecedented growth in revenue for FIFA, culminating in the 2026 World Cup — the first to feature 48 teams and 104 games — compared to 32 teams and 64 games in Qatar four years earlier. This was bound to generate higher revenue, but it was compounded by the dynamic pricing system FIFA introduced for the tournament. This led to sky-high prices for tickets — and FIFA went one better by getting into the secondary market  and taking a 15% cut from both buyer and seller on every transaction. 

While the final revenue numbers won’t be announced until FIFA publishes its annual report for 2026, the figures are expected to smash the almost $5.8 billion (€5.03 billion) the organization earned in 2022, largely from the Qatar World Cup. Infantino has spoken of a figure around double that. Others believe it could be far higher.

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What controversies has he been involved in?

He says he wasn’t to blame for a major talking point at the World Cup — the suspension of USA forward Folarin Balogun’s red-card ban following his sending off against Bosnia in the round of 32. This followed a call by US President Donald Trump to Infantino to request a “review.” Infantino insisted that an independent FIFA body had made the decision.

FIFA under fire for World Cup red card retraction

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The hydration breaks, which effectively split games into four quarters, also didn’t go over well with many football fans. Others were angry at his refusal to step in on rows over visas for traveling fans, officials and a referee from Somalia and the treatment of the Iran team in the US during the tournament.

Prior to the World Cup 2026, Infantino had made the headlines for the wrong reasons on several occasions. Among his more notable controversies were:

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• Ahead of the 2017 FIFA Congress in Bahrain, Infantino removed the chairmen of the Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert and Cornel Borbely, without giving reasons.
• A year later he agreed in principle to a deal that would have seen a financial consortium from the Middle East and Asia acquire the rights to the Club World Cup and a global Nations League for a reported $25 billion. The deal never happened.
• In July 2020, the Swiss public prosecutor’s office accused Infantino of inciting abuse of office by meeting secretly with the head of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, Michael Lauber. Three years later the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence.
• In a ceremony at the World Cup draw in December 2025, Infantino presented US President Donald Trump with the newly created FIFA Peace Prize. This could be seen as the culmination of a widely criticized “bromance” between the FIFA boss and Trump.  

Why has Infantino been under such intense pressure to resign?

His problems began with the World Cup sell-off plan. UEFA sharply condemned the news within minutes — before threatening to boycott all FIFA events, including the men’s and women’s World Cups. After Infantino backed off the plan, UEFA doubled down, saying it had lost confidence in the “current FIFA leadership” and the “task of rebuilding trust in FIFA” had just begun. Football’s European governing body also threatened action through its US lawyers over what it termed a “shabby, backroom, opaque deal.”

How did he reassert himself?

The FIFA boss summoned senior staff members to an emergency meeting in Rabat on Wednesday. A statement issued after that meeting conceded that “mistakes made were acknowledged” in connection with the private investment plan and that the “process should have been handled differently.”

It also said those present had “reaffirmed their full support” for the president and stressed that FIFA would “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation.”

Edited by: Matt Pearson

St Helens interim head coach Eamon O’Carroll told BBC Radio Merseyside:

“There were far too many times when we were shooting ourselves in the foot and putting some pressure on ourselves. We’re clearly not at that level at the moment where we seem to handle that the way we’d like to or how we have in the past.

“We’ve got some young boys in there who may have got exposed at times. They will be better for this experience – I’m really proud of the young lads – but at the minute we seem to be swapping one of our younger lads for another younger lad.

“We’re then automatically asking a lot of some of our senior boys.

“I think you can see where we are at with that at the minute.”

[On play-off qualification] “It’s going to be a difficult one for us to achieve, but it’s not unachievable.”

Hull FC interim head coach Andy Last told Sky Sports:

‘It feels absolutely fantastic. I just want to dedicate that to the supporters who have stuck by us and turned up in big numbers. It was great to get a win for them.

“There were some parts of the performance I was really pleased with and some parts of the game we still need to improve [such as] individuals’ decision-making, but I’m not going to take anything away from tonight.

“To get a win at St Helens, I’m really, really pleased.’

St Helens: Welsby; Douglas, Sailor, Davies, Murphy; Robertson, Hastings; Suluka-Fifita, Humphreys, Walmsley, Keeley, Wright, Shorrocks.

Interchanges: Host, Whitby, Evans, Matagi.

Hull FC: Moy; Barron, Hardaker, Briscoe, Martin; Arthur, Sezer; Ese’ese, Bourouh, Hill, Batchelor, O’Neill, Bell.

Interchanges: Cust, Aydin, Romano, Wood.

Referee: Liam Rush.

Queensberry promoter Frank Warren has said that Irish boxer Lee Reeves is “making progress” after being hospitalised following his fight in Dublin on Saturday night.

The 31-year-old’s condition was described as “critical but stable” after he was admitted for treatment following his defeat to Gary Cully.

Reeves was fighting for the vacant BUI Celtic super-lightweight title but was knocked out in the 10th round at the 3Arena.

The Limerick southpaw was stretchered out of the ring after the fight.

An update provided by Warren on Thursday struck a positive note.

“My team have been in touch with Lee Reeves’ team and he is making progress. That is what we’re hearing and thank the Lord for that,” Warren said.

“With Lee and it’s all about time. Time hopefully can be a healer.”

Warren added that his hope was that Reeves would be able to “get back to his family as soon as possible”.

Fifa chief Gianni Infantino has been accused of a “profound abuse of presidential power” by the world players’ union, Fifpro.

The accusation stems from Mr Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in a World Cup company to private investors.

Fifpro, which represents more than 70 player unions globally, stated that footballers’ confidence in Fifa had been “fundamentally broken” by the conduct of the global governing body’s president.

In response, Fifa issued a statement acknowledging that “mistakes” had been made in the plans to create Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE).

However, the organisation maintained that Mr Infantino had the “full support” of the members of its management board present at a meeting in Morocco on Wednesday.

Fifpro noted the tone of that statement with “deep concern” in a communication issued on Thursday, adding: “The withdrawal of FFE was inevitable. But withdrawing the proposal does not erase what it revealed.

“A plan capable of permanently altering the ownership and governance of the Fifa World Cup, and commercialising the competitions built by generations of players, was conceived in secrecy, negotiated behind closed doors and brought to the brink of agreement before the Fifa Council, the member associations, players and football’s recognised stakeholders even knew it existed.

“That is not merely a governance failure. It is a profound abuse of presidential power.

“The withdrawal of FFE prevented an irreversible decision. It did not restore the confidence that made such a proposal possible in the first place. That confidence has now been fundamentally broken.

“It cannot be rebuilt through carefully drafted statements, internal reviews or promises to improve processes. Nor can it be restored simply by announcing governance and structural reforms that should always have existed.

“These reforms are now indispensable. But they are the responsibility of the future, not an absolution of the past.

“The players did not create this crisis. They will insist that football emerges from it with stronger institutions, stronger safeguards and leadership worthy of the trust the game demands.”

Fifpro has also written to Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom outlining its demands for governance reform.

Its letter, seen by the Press Association, stated: “The role of Fifa president exists to protect institutions, not to circumvent them. The World Cup is not the personal asset of any president. Nor is Fifa itself. They are held in trust for football.”

Fifpro’s letter said the FFE proposal’s handling was part of a “broader pattern” of decisions being taken without proper consultation – citing the introduction of hydration breaks as another example.

Fifpro said the breaks had been “presented under the banner of player health” but appeared in reality to be “closer to a proof-of-concept for future commercial exploitation by FFE-type investors than a genuine welfare measure”.

The players’ body signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Fifa the day before the World Cup kicked off, but wrote in its letter to Grafstrom: “The FFE episode demonstrated that commitments, however welcome, are of little value if they can be circumvented whenever one individual chooses to act outside the institutional framework.”

Mark Martin revisited NASCAR’s long-running technical debate around the Next Gen car during his appearance on the latest Dale Jr. Download. While promoting his new book Never Lift, the conversation shifted to how he would fix the racing produced by the Gen-7 car, and the Hall of Famer pointed to downforce and why he believes the sport took the wrong direction more than three decades ago.

The discussion comes at a time when NASCAR continues to face criticism over the Next Gen car’s racing on short tracks and road courses. While the car has improved safety and reduced costs through standardized components, many drivers and fans believe the current aerodynamic package makes passing too difficult, particularly when cars run close together.

Looking back at the evolution of Cup Series aerodynamics, Martin argued that NASCAR’s current problems can be traced to the early 1990s, when teams increasingly chased downforce to improve cornering speed. That was also when drivers first began talking about cars becoming ‘aero-tight,’ with disturbed airflow making it harder for a trailing car to stay close through the corners.

“In 1990, when we went to Atlanta to race your dad for the championship at the end of the year, we had three cars that we wind-tunneled,” Mark Martin said (1:16:48 onwards). “We had two that, in race trim, that had lift in the front, and one that was zero… We all raced that way. Your dad (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) had the same. Everybody had it. Then we got into the mid-’90s. We started making some serious downforce by 1993… In my opinion, it went off the rails (when) we started making downforce, and then people started saying ‘aero-tight.”

“They come with the five-and-five rule. That didn’t suit your dad’s cars, and it probably suited Fords better. I don’t know what the story was. Everybody’s calling aero-tight, and I said we need less front downforce. Your dad said we needed more, and that’s a fact. And your dad had a lot of pull, and it just kept going,” Mark Martin added.

The Next Gen car today generates much of their grip through a sealed underbody and rear diffuser. That creates a large pocket of turbulent “dirty air” behind the leading car. When a trailing driver enters that disturbed airflow, the front splitter and nose lose clean air, reducing front grip and causing understeer in the corners.

With every car producing similar aerodynamic performance and mechanical grip, following drivers struggle to close the final few feet needed to complete a pass, especially at superspeedways. Mark Martin believes the solution is to remove that dependency on front aerodynamic grip almost entirely:

“I’d want virtually zero front downforce in the front, or lift. Start with 300 (pounds) in the back. Maybe you need more. You don’t need a ton, but you need the front to be virtually nothing. If it’s nothing, it shouldn’t lose anything when it gets behind another car.”

His view is that reducing front downforce would make airflow far less influential, allowing drivers to race each other rather than fight aerodynamic turbulence.

Mark Martin explains why he never liked the Next Gen car’s design

Later in the conversation, Mark Martin suggested that NASCAR should continue exploring ways to reduce the aerodynamic influence on the Next Gen car. NASCAR has already reduced overall downforce by roughly 30 percent from the earlier generation, and also increased the horsepower in 2026.

Martin then revealed that his concerns about the Next Gen car actually began before it ever turned a lap (1:13:47 onwards):

“The first thing I would’ve said when I saw the first drawing of the Gen 7 was, ‘What’s wrong with the quarter panels? What’d y’all do?’ It doesn’t have a trunk lid. It looks like a hatchback.”

“When I first saw it, I said, ‘Why didn’t they push the body back?’ Then I got to looking more, and it’s like the rear wheels are rubbing the back bumper. Why is that? It just looks so not like a race car. Well the OEMs wanted all that.”

Despite those styling concerns, Mark Martin stressed that his biggest priority remains fixing how the cars race. Rather than focusing on setup changes, he believes the aerodynamic philosophy itself needs to change:

“I’d work with the engineers from the teams to make the underbody not work at all.”

While Mark Martin acknowledged the need for underbody, he believes reducing its aerodynamic influence is the best path toward improving side-by-side racing and giving drivers more opportunities to pass on merit rather than clean air.