Pressure mounts on Infantino to quit
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
Hello, I'm Ankur Desai and at 16 Hours GMT on Monday the 3rd of August, these are our main stories. The head of world football Gianni Infantino is coming under increasing pressure to quit after some governing bodies consider withdrawing support for his re-election as head of FIFA. Water-bombing planes are being used to help hundreds of firefighters in Greece battling wildfires on three fronts west of the capital, Athens. Japan and the US say they took coordinated action to prop up the yen last week after the Japanese currency fell to a 40-year low. Also in this podcast, the family of the detained former leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, have welcomed her being allowed to meet a delegate from the Red Cross.
And... He's completely fine. Yeah, he's amazing. Everything they did just completely reversed what could have been a really horrible start to his life. The remarkable womb surgery which fixed a miracle baby with intestines outside its body. First, could the man in charge of world football soon lose his iron grip on the game?
Will Gianni Infantino be forced to quit after FA and UEFA withdraw support?
Two weeks ago, standing alongside Donald Trump in New Jersey, Gianni Infantino handed the World Cup trophy to Spain after a lucrative and largely successful tournament. Since then, his position has weakened considerably. After his plan to sell stakes in competitions like the World Cup to private investors had to be abandoned, following widespread condemnation from the world football community. Now UEFA, who govern the European game, have threatened legal action against that plan. And the English and Welsh football associations have signalled their withdrawal of support for Mr Infantino and his re-election due to take place next year. Only the Confederation of African Football has remained largely silent so far, believing that it could benefit financially.
So, where does this leave Gianni Anfantino? Can he survive? And should he stay in his post? David Bernstein, former chair of the English Football Association, says he shouldn't.
What were the details and fallout of Infantino’s plan to sell World Cup stakes?
I don't think he can survive in place, and he should not. Just to recap, this was a very, very bad deal. It was a sweetheart deal. It was done in secret. I think it was done at an undervaluation, and it was done with a very tight timetable to try and squeeze it through. Totally unacceptable. So the answer is it was excessively negative, that deal, and he has to go. What I would consider, and this is absolutely radical, And I have to say, I haven't seen anybody else come up with this idea yet, is FIFA is of huge value. And I say it could be worth $50 billion. I would think about listing it on a stock exchange, probably in the USA. In other words, floating as a public company. You could attract hundreds of thousands of fans as shareholders.
Fans could be encouraged to put out $100 or $1,000 or $1 million or anywhere in between into FIFA, become shareholders, as you would do in Apple or Microsoft and so on.
And by doing so, A, you would empower to some extent and certainly get involved with the worldwide fan base of football to invest in FIFA.
And anybody I've spoken to about this, by the way, they're, oh, yes, I would love the opportunity to invest in FIFA. And then you get regular reports and accounts from them and so on. So number one, it would be democratic. Number two, you get, I think, a much higher value. which means that the countries you're talking about could get much more money than they were going to get under this deal. And thirdly, and not the least important, it would bring proper governance to FIFA. They would be subject to the sort of governance that you would get in a public company.
Tarek Panja is global sports correspondent at The New York Times. Rebecca Kesby asked him what he thought of David Bernstein's idea to put FIFA on the New York Stock Exchange.
He's not the first person to say this and this isn't the first scandal FIFA has had. What David was saying just takes me back to May 2015 when the Swiss authorities acting on behalf of the Department of Justice dragged the previous...
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:07
2
Will Gianni Infantino be forced to quit after FA and UEFA withdraw support?
2:07–3:07
3
What were the details and fallout of Infantino’s plan to sell World Cup stakes?
3:07–5:06
4
Could listing FIFA on a stock exchange be a viable reform?
5:06–8:29
5
How are UEFA, national associations and fans reacting to the FIFA controversy?
8:29–15:00
6
What is the current situation with the wildfires west of Athens and firefighting response?
15:00–20:51
7
How did in‑womb surgery save baby Theo’s life and what does the procedure involve?
20:51–24:43
8
What is the scale and international response needed for the Ebola outbreak in the DRC?
24:43–31:39