Former FIFA VP Prince Ali cites 'blackmail' by Infantino-led soccer body over unpaid prize money

GENEVA (AP) — Former FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein criticized the soccer body’s leadership headed by Gianni Infantino on Tuesday, describing prize money withheld from his Jordan national team as a kind of blackmail.

Prince Ali said the Jordanian federation he leads still has not been paid money due for reaching the final of the FIFA Arab Cup played last December in Qatar.

In a social media post, Prince Ali said that during the World Cup — where Jordan made its debut in June — he was told if he endorsed FIFA President Gianni Infantino “it would go a long way to helping our FA out.”

Infantino is under pressure to save his 11-year presidency amid a fierce backlash from global soccer leaders about his now-failed plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to investors led by Joshua Kushner.

“We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now,” said Prince Ali, who placed third in a five-candidate FIFA presidential contest when Infantino was first elected in February 2016.

“But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that,” the Jordanian royal wrote Tuesday.

The 2025 FIFA Arab Cup that Jordan lost in the title match against Morocco was set to pay $4.2 million to the beaten finalist, Jordanian media reported last year.

“The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet,” Prince Ali wrote, “while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve.”

“It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters,” he said.

FIFA was approached for comment about the claims.

Prince Ali was elected by Asian soccer to serve on FIFA's ruling executive committee from 2011-15, and stood against then-president Sepp Blatter in a May 2015 election. That vote to re-elect Blatter was held in the shadow of raids at Zurich hotels two days earlier to arrest soccer officials as part of investigations by U.S. and Swiss federal agencies.

Infantino had seemed a lock to be re-elected unopposed for a fourth and final term leading FIFA through 2031 when he left New York two weeks after the World Cup final.

Fallout from his secretive private equity plan revealed one week ago has rocked soccer politics with Infantino’s former colleagues at European soccer body UEFA now looking for a rival candidate. The proposal underwritten by Kushner's Thrive Eternal fund would have paid $20 million each to Jordan and all other FIFA members had they accepted by a Sept. 19 deadline

UEFA also is threatening a boycott of FIFA games, events and meetings, while the leadership of the North American soccer body CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation, of which Jordan is a member, also have spoken out against Infantino.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for candidates to declare for the election by 211 member federations on March 18 in Rabat, Morocco.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage