Infantino's opponents at FIFA call for $10M payments to federations from post-World Cup reserves

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA’s member federations should each get an extra $10 million from its swelling cash reserves after a successful World Cup, the soccer body’s vice presidents from Europe and North America said in a letter Friday to its president Gianni Infantino as they stepped up efforts to oust him for trying to sell stakes in the tournament to private investors.

The letter says FIFA should have cash reserves of $6 billion after the World Cup and can afford such a “one-off release" — which would total $2.1 billion to the 211 federations — UEFA's president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF’s leader Victor Montagliani tell Infantino in a letter seen by The Associated Press.

UEFA and CONCACAF want to remove Infantino — either before or at the FIFA presidential election next March — after leading a global backlash in July against his World Cup sell-off plan to investors led by Joshua Kushner.

He is the young brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump. Infantino built close ties to Trump ahead of this year's World Cup held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and was a regular visitor to the White House.

The call for $10-million payments to the national federations — who will elect the next president — is a clear counter to Infantino's offer of $20 million for each to support his now-failed project.

The message in Friday’s letter appears to be reassuring FIFA members they will get increased funding even without Infantino in the office he has occupied since 2016.

The letter says already promised FIFA funding — $20 million for each of the 211 through 2030 — “would continue in full as already committed.”

FIFA was approached for comment.

Ceferin and Montagliani told Infantino they want a full and independent analysis of FIFA's finances ahead of an Oct. 15 meeting in Zurich, to help decide how much money can responsibly be given to member federations.

The UEFA and CONCACAF leaders shape as key players at the scheduled meeting next month of the Infantino-chaired FIFA Council — its first since his secretive private equity plan was revealed by press reports in late July.

“Lastly, please note we will be informing the other four confederation presidents to support this motion,” Ceferin and Montagliani wrote.

The Asian Football Confederation also has been critical of Infantino in recent weeks. The soccer bodies in South America and Africa have backed Infantino, who traveled to the Caribbean last month trying to shore up support from CONCACAF members there, despite Montagliani asking him not to visit.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for candidates to enter the election that is decided four months later in Rabat in Morocco, a key ally of Infantino and 2030 World Cup co-host with UEFA members Spain and Portugal.

After a profitable World Cup in North America, Infantino looked set to be re-elected unopposed for a fourth and final term through 2031 until the private investment furor.

It is unclear who could emerge as a rival candidate, though European soccer leaders are due to gather at a UEFA-hosted event before the FIFA Council meeting.

Past speculation has typically landed on Canada's Montagliani and the Qatari president of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaifi. He is both a member of the Qatari government and UEFA’s executive committee. Neither has said they want to challenge Infantino, who has been publicly supported by the Qatar soccer federation.

UEFA has asked courts in Manhattan and Florida to authorize discovery of evidence from, respectively, Kushner’s investment firm in New York and FIFA around the $20 billion commercial spinoff project, that was to be known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).

The European soccer body said last month it wanted documents and communication for a potential criminal complaint against Infantino in FIFA's home country Switzerland, for possible financial mismanagement.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

FILE - CAF President Patrice Motsepe and FIFA President Gianni Infantino wave from the tribune during the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 soccer match between South Africa and Cameroon in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin attends an event with school children following a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures as he attends the Women's U20 World Cup opening match between Poland and Argentina in Katowice, Poland, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge who blocked the creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for compensating President Donald Trump's political allies wasn't swayed by a government attorney's assurances Friday that the administration has abandoned the concept.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia didn't rule from the bench on the government's request for her to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the fund's formation and operation. But the judge rejected the notion that the case's claims are moot because the Trump administration says the fund is dead and won't go forward.

“The issues that underlie this case are still alive and kicking, in my view,” Brinkema said.

The fund for compensating Trump’s political allies encountered a fierce bipartisan backlash and threatened to derail Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate confirmation. On Aug. 2, Blanche issued a formal order terminating the fund after negotiating for weeks with two Republican senators who wanted to see the promise in writing before they endorsed his nomination.

“The case is moot,” Justice Department attorney Andrew Block told Brinkema. “The mootness has been addressed at every stage.”

But the judge noted that Blanche's assurances have been undercut by the president and other administration officials. Trump, a Republican, continued to publicly express support for the fund even as Blanche insisted it was dead.

“They contradict themselves all the time,” Brinkema said.

The administration created the settlement fund to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. The plan stoked outrage over the notion that Trump supporters who attacked police officers while storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be eligible for payments.

Attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward sued in May, asking the Alexandria, Virginia, court to suspend the fund’s implementation temporarily and stop the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argued the government can’t divert taxpayer money to a slush fund for enriching Trump’s allies.

Brinkema, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, agreed in June to extend an order blocking the fund until further notice from the court.

Democracy Forward attorney Pooja Boisture told the judge on Friday that the administration will most likely move forward with the fund — “either in its current iteration or a new one” — if her order is lifted.

The Virginia lawsuit’s plaintiffs include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest. Also named as plaintiffs are the government watchdog Common Cause; the city of New Haven, Connecticut; and the National Abortion Federation, an association of abortion providers.

“This scheme is an unprecedented, unlawful, and corrupt attempt to manipulate the legal process and laws intended to prevent political interference to achieve benefits that President Trump and his political allies could not have obtained lawfully,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.

Justice Department attorneys argue the plaintiffs don’t have a legal basis for claims challenging a fund that “has never existed and will not exist.”

“The time has come to stop this inquisition,” they wrote.

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche listens during a news briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)