By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Football governing body, FIFA, warned against what it calls a “concerted and ongoing effort” to “undermine” the organization and its president, Gianni Infantino.
The statement comes after UEFA confirmed on Friday a “departure payment” was made to a female employee alleged to have been in a relationship with Infantino when he was the European governing body’s general secretary.
A Fifa spokesperson told the Telegraph Infantino “strongly denies” the allegations and that they are “categorically untrue”.
Fifa has now itself hit out at “unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims”, adding that “speculation and insinuation should not be presented as fact”.
Infantino has come under increasing pressure from Uefa and European football associations over his aborted Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.
“The Fifa president was democratically elected by Fifa’s Member Associations and continues to serve with their mandate,” Fifa said in its statement on Saturday.
“It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine Fifa and its president.
“Those who do not have the support of Fifa’s member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through Fifa’s established democratic processes.”
Following a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday, FIFA apologised to its 211 member associations for mistakes in the handling of the proposal and said its leadership had reaffirmed its full support for Infantino.