Zurich, Switzerland - FIFA on Saturday condemned "a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine" the game's governing body and its president Gianni Infantino, as the controversy over his investment plan rumbles on.
Infantino is facing calls to resign as he faces fresh allegations in a Telegraph report that he paid off a lover while he was the general secretary of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
"Recent reporting has included unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims concerning FIFA and its President," FIFA's press department wrote in a statement posted to X in response to the latest allegations.
"It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its President," the statement read. "Speculation and insinuation should not be presented as fact."
According to the Telegraph, the Italian-Swiss lawyer used his influence to secure a promotion for a UEFA employee with whom he was in an intimate relationship.
The newspaper added – without revealing its sources – that the same employee received a "a six-figure sum" upon her departure in addition to the payment of tuition fees for a business school amounting to around $60,700.
When contacted by the AFP, UEFA acknowledged that "a departure payment was made to the individual in question" at that time, "coupled with the payment of fees for an MBA course at a local business school."
Infantino, who is standing for reelection next March, has been embroiled in a crisis since the announcement last month of his controversial – and ultimately abandoned – plan to open up the World Cup to private investors.
FIFA insisted it "welcomes legitimate scrutiny," but said such scrutiny "is not a license to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations, or manufacture distractions."
"Where reporting is inaccurate or misleading, FIFA will challenge it directly and vigorously," it added.