Daijiworld Media Network - Zurich

Zurich, Aug 9: FIFA has defended its president Gianni Infantino against what it described as a "concerted and ongoing effort" to undermine his leadership of world football's governing body.

The statement was issued on Saturday, a day after British newspaper The Daily Telegraph published a report raising questions over an exit payment made by UEFA to a female staff member who worked with Infantino when he was general secretary of European football's governing body.

UEFA confirmed that a "departure payment" had been made to the employee and said it was in line with the regulations in place at the time.

Infantino worked at UEFA for 16 years before being elected FIFA president.

In its statement, FIFA accused Infantino's critics of attempting to weaken his authority and remove him from office without following established procedures.

"It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its president," FIFA said.

The governing body added that those who did not have the support of FIFA's member associations should not attempt to achieve through allegations, insinuations or misinformation what they could not achieve through the organisation's established democratic processes.

FIFA also said some reports had contained "unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims" that should not be presented as facts.

"Change inevitably challenges established interests, but disagreement with that change cannot justify efforts to undermine the democratic mandate of FIFA's president or the institution he was elected to lead," it said.

Infantino has faced intense criticism following reports about his plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity investors. UEFA and two other continental confederations, CONCACAF of North and Central America and the Caribbean and the Asian Football Confederation, opposed the proposal.

Infantino received backing from FIFA's management board last Wednesday following a meeting in Morocco and apologised over the process.

UEFA has continued to threaten a boycott of FIFA competitions by its 55 member associations unless the plan is scrapped. The European governing body said on Thursday that the announcement had "changed nothing".

On the exit payment, UEFA said it had complied with the regulations that were in force for departing staff members at the time.

The organisation added that its rules had been tightened since 2016 and now reflect those of a modern, high-profile organisation.