FIFA pays Jordan overdue prize money after 'blackmail' remark, FA stays critical

[p]Prince Ali [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/jordan-fa-president-accuses-gianni-infantino-of-blackmail-over-endorsement/vmk7v09t/"]criticised FIFA President ‌Gianni Infantino[/a] after he backed out of his ‌proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup and ‌found himself under pressure from confederations and national associations, ‌saying FIFA had offered to help solve the kingdom's problems in exchange for his endorsement.[/p][p]One of the problems he listed was ‌that the association had been waiting ⁠since December for prize ‌money for reaching the Arab Cup final in Qatar.[/p][p][b]"Thank you to ​the FIFA administration for suddenly this morning delivering what was owed to our players and coaching ​staff, for the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/jordan/vNcmJoU2/"]Jordan[/a] National team's accession to the final of the FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar last ⁠December," [/b]Prince Ali ​said on X.[/p][p][b]"This was funding that should have been received eight months ago."[/b][/p][p]Prince Ali had alleged FIFA verbally communicated during the World Cup that backing the president [b]"would go a ‌long way to helping our FA out".[/b][/p][p]FIFA did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations.[/p][embed guid="9c9b9368-d051-47ae-a951-803c86ef0249" url="https://x.com/AliBinAlHussein/status/2085337403284136134?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Prince Ali added that receiving the money was a welcome development but that it would not change the concerns his organisation had about FIFA's leadership.[/p][p][b]"It is symptomatic of those exact difficulties that we all face and that are usually linked to the FIFA presidential elections," [/b]he added.[/p][p][b]"And ‌it does not change my clear position concerning the ​leadership of FIFA: my FA and I will not ‌endorse President Infantino, nor will we vote for him."[/b][/p][p]FIFA apologised to its members for mistakes made over its abandoned proposal to sell commercial rights to the World Cup but the body's leadership [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/fifa-say-senior-figures-reaffirmed-their-full-support-for-infantino-in-emergency-meeting/zV8pkwal/"]reaffirmed its ⁠support for Infantino[/a] after ⁠a crisis meeting in ‌Morocco on Wednesday.[/p]