Several former international players, including Fabio Cannavaro, Cafu, and Javier Zanetti, have expressed their support for Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, who is facing mounting criticism following his failed attempt to open up the world soccer federation to private investors.
Their messages, posted on social media, stand in contrast to an open letter from another group of former players, led by former French international Michel Silvestre, which last Monday called for “change” at the helm of FIFA.
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“Over the past ten years, world soccer has improved,” and players “have regained a central role,” wrote Cannavaro on Instagram, the 2006 “Golden Ball” winner, who led the Italian national team to the World Cup title.
“Infantino has done an excellent job, and failing to acknowledge that would be intellectually dishonest,” added the former defender and current coach of the Uzbekistan national team.
At the same time, similar messages were posted by several former international players from Latin America, including the Argentines, Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso, the Brazilians Cafu and Roberto Carlos, the Colombian, Ramiro Córdoba, and the Mexican, Jared Borgetti.
“We’ve observed the work of FIFA and President Infantino to promote player representation, something that didn’t exist before,” wrote Cafu, a two-time World Cup winner with the “Seleção” (1994 and 2002). “Our views are having an impact,” said the former players who support Infantino.
On Monday, however, another group of former players criticized FIFA’s current leadership, using the slogan “Enough is enough” in an open letter published in three languages.
“Change is essential. The exercise of power has diminished the current leaders’ ability to distinguish their personal interests from the greater good of soccer,” stated the former French internationals, Michel Silvestre, Emmanuel Petit, and Olivier Dacourt, on their social media accounts, without naming Infantino.
This message was also shared on social media by Argentine Juan Sebastián Verón, Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast, and soccer player Lucy Bronz, a two-time European champion with the English national team.
*photo source: AP
