The "Golden Ball" Winner Called On Infantino To Step Down As FIFA President

• 5.08.2026, 17:59

And he called it "a relic of the past in soccer."

The 2000 Ballon d'Or winner Luís Figo, in his column for Daily Mail, described the behavior of FIFA President Gianni Infantino "the most despicable and deceitful" and called on him to step down.

"I could write 10,000 words about the problems at FIFA. But to solve the problem, just three will do: Infantino must go,” Figo wrote.

Figo noted that during his 20-year playing career, he had “encountered scoundrels,” but in the last ten days he had witnessed “the lowest, most deceitful, and most selfish behavior.”

“A man capable of such things, who is trying to push through such sweeping changes just so that he and his friends can get rich, is a relic of soccer’s past, and he has no place in its future,” Figo noted.

The scandal surrounding Infantino erupted following reports of FIFA’s plans to sell part of the World Cup’s commercial rights to outside investors. The organization quickly abandoned the idea, but Infantino lost the support of several European associations in the upcoming election, and FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour stated that the organization’s head had deceived his staff.

Figou was among the soccer legends who supported Infantino during his first election campaign in 2016.