Jordan FA President Accuses FIFA of Blackmail Over Infantino Reelection Endorsement

Prince Ali bin Al Hussein is the president of the Jordanian Football Association. (Francois Nel / Getty Images)

By Matt Slater Aug. 4, 2026 — 2:26 pm EDT | Updated

Former FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein has accused world football’s governing body of attempting to “blackmail” the Jordanian Football Association (JFA) into supporting Gianni Infantino’s reelection bid as FIFA president.

In a scathing post on his X feed on Tuesday, Prince Ali, who serves as JFA president, wrote that his organization had requested FIFA’s assistance on three separate issues this year but was told he needed to endorse Infantino first.

According to Prince Ali:

• The first issue involved difficulties Jordan faced in securing visas for their fans — even those who had purchased tickets “at exorbitant prices” — after the national team qualified for their first-ever World Cup this summer.
• The second request sought help with American taxes that Jordan’s players and staff are liable for following their stay in the U.S., costs the JFA had not budgeted for and would not have incurred if the team had been based in co-hosts Canada or Mexico.
• The third issue relates to prize money that Jordan claims is still owed from December’s FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar, where the team went unbeaten to the final before losing 3–2 to Morocco.

“It is clear the problem really is with (the) leadership,” continued Prince Ali, who ran unsuccessfully against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2015 and then against Infantino and Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa in 2016.

“For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters until it was verbally communicated to me, during the World Cup, that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out.

“We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that.”

FIFA has not responded to a request for comment.

Who Is Prince Ali and Why Is His Intervention Significant?

The third son of Jordan’s former king and half-brother of the current ruler, Prince Ali’s voice carries considerable weight in Asian football. He is also the founder and president of the West Asian Football Federation, which currently has 12 FIFA member nations.

Prince Ali served as a FIFA vice-president between 2011 and 2016, when he was ousted by Sheikh Salman. During his tenure, he championed the lifting of FIFA’s ban on the hijab in women’s football and created a development program to raise funds for better football facilities in the Middle East.

He is a formidable opponent at the worst possible time for Infantino, who is still fighting for his survival as FIFA boss following the collapse of his plan to create a subsidiary that would own the commercial rights to FIFA’s competitions and then sell a 20% stake in the new business to private investors.

That project united the Asian, European, and North and Central American confederations in opposition against Infantino last week. UEFA, European football’s governing body, has also stated it has lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership.

The Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf — the confederation that hosted this summer’s World Cup — have also voiced opposition.

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• UEFA Threatens Legal Action
• Inside the Controversial Week
• Plans Scrapped