FAI silent on Gianni Infantino as English and Welsh FAs withdraw support
James Cox
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has not responded to questions on whether it still supports embattled Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
Infantino is currently set to run unopposed for a fourth term as Fifa president. An election will take place in Rabat, Morocco, in September.
His controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors sparked fury, before Infantino and Fifa eventually confirmed it had been scrapped.
Uefa had announced a boycott of Fifa competitions while the plan was in place. The FAI supported that boycott.
Finland was the first Uefa member to withdraw support for the re-election of Infantino. The Welsh and English FAs followed suit along with Sweden, Serbia and the Netherlands.
The FAI has not responded to questions from BreakingNews.ie over whether it will withdraw its support for Infantino, and whether it will release a statement on the matter.
Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI) solicitor Stuart Gilhooly expects the FAI to withdraw its support for Infantino.
"I would certainly expect them to agree with the English and the Welsh FA and I'd be very surprised if they took any different stance," he told RTÉ radio.
"Uefa were out very quickly as soon as Infantino came out with his ridiculous plan from last week and they were very strongly condemnatory of it. They subsequently have been very strong in what they've said and also in threatening legal action against against Fifa.
"So I think what is very likely is that the FAI will follow Uefa's lead. They've shown consistently that they are very beholden to Uefa in everything that they do. I'd be very surprised if they took a different position."
Gilhooly added: "I would think the [FAI] board will be discussing this matter. I would think they would not want to wait too much longer before coming out and supporting the English and Welsh FA. I would imagine there will be other European countries who will make similar withdrawals of support from Infantino.
"Infantino, up to now, or prior to last week's fiasco, had received confirmation of support for next April's elections from 200 of the 211 member nations and I think what you're going to see over the next while is a lot of people saying we're no longer going to support him in his re-election next year."
Infantino has called an emergency meeting in Rabat for Wednesday as the pressure mounts on him.
The move comes after Arsene Wenger distanced himself from the World Cup private investment plan, and said a U-turn was necessary.
The former Arsenal manager is Fifa’s chief of global football development.
