FIFA officially denied the information that appeared on Friday about the organization's concessions to overspending European teams and turning a blind eye to their non-compliance with the "Financial Fair Play" (FFP) policy, alfa.lt wrote.
Germany's "Der Spiegel," France's "Get French Football News," and other European portals revealed the conclusions of the "Football Leaks" investigation, showing that the current FIFA president Gianni Infantino disregarded the rules created by the organization and allowed them to be circumvented by "Manchester City" and Paris Saint-Germain clubs - the champions of England and France in recent years.
It is reported that G. Infantino ensured that the mentioned clubs would receive minimal penalties for FFP violations and would not face any penalties for falsified financial reports. Although Manchester and Paris clubs faced expulsion from UEFA tournaments, by transferring substantial sums to FIFA and UEFA leaders, they avoided the strictest sanctions and could continue uninterrupted by paying money.
However, FIFA denies such information and claims that the leaked information is nothing more than an attempt to tarnish the organization's image. According to representatives of the global football organization, this may be an attempt to take over the leadership of world football, and G. Infantino personally assured that he seeks to get rid of any corruption in football.
"I always face challenges when trying to change things and move forward," started his official statement G. Infantino. "Since we began making changes within FIFA, I had no doubt that I would face strong opposition from opponents who could not shamelessly earn from the previous system."
However, this is the reason why I was elected to be FIFA president and I have one goal in my work - to improve and enhance global football and its system. I am more dedicated to this than ever and will strive to achieve the set goal."
In the released FIFA statement, it is also stated that representatives of the mentioned media and research teams sent hundreds of questions to organization representatives for about four weeks, which were based on illegally obtained information and speculations. It is announced that these questions were answered directly and honestly, but the media did not listen to the answers and started publishing their collected information without verifying the facts or considering FIFA's explanations.
FIFA considers this an attempt to undermine the organization's leaders G. Infantino and general secretary Fatma Samoura. However, such FIFA statements are currently being viewed controversially in the public eye. The FFP rule, which came into force in 2013, was supposed to restrict the unrestrained actions of teams in the player market, but in reality, it only works in exceptional cases where symbolic fines are imposed on the richest teams.
One of these is the 49 million euro fine imposed on "Manchester City," which the "Citizens" paid four years ago, but last year they received the majority of this amount back - 33 million - due to "implemented changes and compliance with financial policies."
alfa.lt
