GENEVA (AP) 鈥� Former FIFA vice president criticized the soccer body鈥檚 leadership 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 that during the World Cup 鈥� where Jordan made its debut in June 鈥� he was told if he endorsed FIFA President Gianni Infantino 鈥渋t would go a long way to helping our FA out.鈥�
his 11-year presidency amid a about his now-failed plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to investors led by Joshua Kushner.
鈥淲e pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now,鈥� said Prince Ali, who placed third in a five-candidate FIFA presidential contest when Infantino was first elected in February 2016.
鈥淏ut the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that,鈥� the Jordanian royal wrote Tuesday.
FIFA Arab Cup money not paid
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.
鈥淭he money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet,鈥� Prince Ali wrote, 鈥渨hile at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve.鈥�
鈥淚t is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters,鈥� he said.
FIFA was approached for comment about the claims.
Prince Ali鈥檚 FIFA history
Prince Ali was elected by Asian soccer to serve on FIFA’s ruling executive committee from 2011-15, and 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 has rocked soccer politics with Infantino鈥檚 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: and
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
