Nie zuvor hat sich der Fußball so weit von seinen Wurzeln entfernt wie bei der WM. Statt Menschen mit Senfresten im Bart saß da ein Defilee der Feinfrisierten auf den Rängen. Eine Chance für die gute alte Bundesliga zu zeigen, wo die Grenzen der Gier sind.

• Meetings around event seen as chance to lobby for votes

• Fifa president may meet his most credible challenger

Gianni Infantino wants to split the European and North American coalition that is seeking to oust him by attending a junior tournament in the Dominican Republic this weekend in another gamble to cling on to power from the Fifa president.

The Guardian has learned that Infantino has made plans to attend the U14 Boys Challenge competition organised by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), 21 of whose associations are voting members of Fifa, despite being urged to stay away from the event by senior figures within Concacaf – the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football – which is working with Uefa to remove him.

• Hungary’s Sandor Csanyi highly critical of Fifa president

• He cites dismissal of COO Kevin Lamour as ‘final straw’

Gianni Infantino has lost the support of another one of Fifa’s vice-presidents, with the Hungarian football federation chief, Sandor Csanyi, criticising the president’s “professional judgment, ethical standards and leadership”.

In an explosive letter sent to Infantino on Tuesday, which was first obtained by the news agency Agence France-Presse, Csanyi states that he has “lost the confidence I previously placed in you” and describes the “unexpected dismissal” of Fifa’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, as the “final straw”.

• IFA points to ‘unprecedented crisis of confidence’

• Premier League chief says Infantino ‘hit self-destruct’

Gianni Infantino’s decision to sack his chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, after the Frenchman’s criticism of the World Cup sell-off plan has hardened some opposition to the Fifa president, with the efforts to force him out expected to intensify over the next few days.

On Tuesday Israel became the latest Fifa member to officially withdraw their support for Infantino’s re-election in a letter sent by the head of the Israel Football Association (IFA), Moshe Zuares.

• Kevin Lamour said Fifa administration was ‘deceived’

• Chief operating officer knew he could lose his job

The Fifa chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, has been sacked after openly criticising Gianni Infantino’s ill-fated plan to sell parts of the World Cup to private investors.

In a significant development at the pinnacle of world football’s deeply troubled governing body, Lamour has departed less than two years after joining from a previous role at Uefa. He had come out strongly against Infantino’s FFE scheme after it was revealed, saying Fifa’s administration had been “deceived” and that the president “believes he embodies Fifa when he is supposed to be at its service”.

Women’s football has much to gain from the kind of reforms that threats to snub upcoming tournaments might prompt. Infantino should be taken on

“And I say to all the women … Pick the right battles. Pick the right fights. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it. Just do it. With men, with Fifa, you will find open doors. Just push the doors. They are open.”

Those were the condescending words of Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, three years ago during a tone-deaf speech in Sydney, which left his audience, including some of the most senior women in the game, exasperated. It is a damning indictment of Infantino’s tenure that his patronising monologue on the eve of the Women’s World Cup final now barely even creeps into the top 10 of the most controversial moments since his latest re-election, in March 2023.

• Ultimatum issued hours before plan was scrapped

• European Football Clubs demanded Infantino back down

Europe’s leading clubs threatened not to participate in future Club World Cups unless Gianni Infantino withdrew his Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme, issuing their ultimatum hours before the plan was scrapped.

In a letter to the Fifa secretary general, Mattias Grafström, the influential European Football Clubs (EFC) group warned that its cooperation with future tournaments would hinge on Infantino backing down. It said the threat would hold unless a joint venture between EFC and Fifa – a framework for which has already been agreed – is completed before television rights can be sold for the 2028 Women’s Club World Cup.

• OFC’s 11 votes could prove crucial in Fifa election

• Stance shows continued backing from smaller nations

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has declared its support for Gianni Infantino following demands from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation for the Fifa president to resign, in a development that further highlights world football’s civil war.

After a meeting of its executive committee in Fiji on Wednesday, the OFC issued a statement on Friday praising “the progress achieved over the last decade” by Fifa in its first public comments since the abandoned World Cup sell-off plan emerged this month.

Uefa presented some of its crown jewels through European champions PSG but the turmoil engulfing Fifa is still the main topic on the menu

This was an opportune night to show off some of Uefa’s crown jewels. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia knows a thing or two about sitting Fifa tournaments out, albeit through sheer accident of birth, but proved yet again that he will show up whatever the stage. It was some way to kick off a European football season when the Georgian, with a familiar exhibition of assured footwork and rip-roaring finishing, found Marco Bizot’s top corner. Given the past fortnight’s events nobody could turn their noses up at a reminder of why, through the muck and grubbiness that has thrown the sport into turmoil, we are all really here.

Earlier on, the Uefa hierarchy and guests had enjoyed their pre-match lunch inside Hangar 7, a vast exhibition hall next to Salzburg airport that houses an array of cars and craft from Red Bull’s various endeavours. A main course of Wagyu tenderloin stole the scene and, for those craving a dose of local flavour, curd cheese dumplings were served next. But the main topic of conversation on the menu brought a more bitter taste. The fallout from Gianni Infantino’s collapsed Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme will cast its own eclipse over football until an agreeable resolution has been reached.

• Uefa, Concacaf and AFC working together on system

• Fifa has ignored calls for an independent review

Gianni Infantino’s opponents are working together to produce a new framework for running world football to replace what they regard as a system of patronage that Fifa has adopted since he replaced Sepp Blatter as president 10 years ago.

Repeated calls from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation for an independent review of Fifa’s governance have been ignored by Infantino since his plan to sell off 21% of the World Cup was made public a fortnight ago, and the rebels are now understood to have taken matters into their own hands.

• US president backs ‘fantastic’ Infantino in Truth Social post

• Infantino under pressure following doomed World Cup sell-off plan

US president Donald Trump has warned Fifa would be making a “terrible mistake” if they get rid of Gianni Infantino as the head of world football’s governing body.

Infantino has come under pressure following his doomed plan to sell off stakes in the men’s World Cup to private investors.

• Confederations write open letter damning Fifa president

• Concacaf president Montagliani seen as top contender

Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.

In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details emerged of the Fifa president’s failed Football Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, the three governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception” and condemned his failure to acknowledge that the proposal should not have been unilaterally launched.

• Tebas says Swiss is ‘destroying essence of football’

• Any reform at highest levels must be ‘genuine’

Javier Tebas says Gianni Infantino’s position as Fifa president is untenable, claiming he is “destroying the very essence of football” while calling for reform at the highest levels of the game.

The La Liga president, who is a longstanding and vociferous critic of the current Fifa regime, said “the Infantino era is over” and called for control of the game to be expanded beyond the current “elite”.

• Fifa backs ‘democratically-elected’ president

• Thinly-veiled attack aimed on Uefa as crisis roars on

Fifa last night issued a thinly-veiled attack on Uefa and other leading figures in European football in a statement which alleged there is a “concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine Fifa and its president,” as football’s civil war escalated further.

Uefa has made it clear they regard Infantino’s continued leadership of world football as untenable following his role in the World Cup sell-off plans, while the Guardian revealed on Friday the Norwegian Football Federation has publicly called on him to resign, with Fifa responding by accusing them of attempting to subvert the organisation’s democratic processes.

• Infantino was Uefa general secretary from 2009 to 2016

• ‘These allegations … are categorically untrue,’ says Fifa

Uefa has confirmed a “departure payment” was made to a female employee who is alleged to have been in a relationship with Gianni Infantino while he was the organisation’s general secretary, allegations Fifa has dismissed as “categorically untrue”.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday night that the woman received a six-figure sum following the alleged relationship with Infantino. In a statement, Uefa confirmed a payment was made along with covering the fees for an MBA course, which it said was “in line” with regulations at the time.

The Fifa president’s attempt to brazen out the storm, after attempting to sell a stake in the World Cup to private equity, adds insult to injury

“How did you go bankrupt?” a character is asked in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises. “Gradually, then suddenly” comes the reply. Right now, Fifa’s justly besieged president, Gianni Infantino, is experiencing something similar in relation to the loss  of his own authority.

Since taking over the running of world football’s governing body in 2016, Mr Infantino has survived regular criticism of a monetising approach which has often come at a sporting cost. But since egregious plans to sell a stake in the World Cup to the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law were leaked to the media, his credibility has been draining away at speed.

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It has been a remarkable few days for an institution that may be irredeemable but this is a story that stretches back to a decision in 2010

There are decades in which nothing happens, and weeks in which decades happen, and those weeks tend to result in leaders being toppled. Not even a fortnight ago, Gianni Infantino was taking his victory lap on Instagram, attacking “those behind their pens and papers, behind their screens spreading hate and false rumours” who had dared to question elements of his World Cup, which had generated a record $15bn in revenues. But the next day came the revelation of his plan to sell the World Cup to outside investors and a backlash that has him scrabbling to save his presidency.

It has been a remarkable few days, but this is a story whose roots stretch way back, to the decision in Zurich in 2010 to award the 2022 World Cup not to the US but to Qatar, to a furious Bill Clinton hurling an ashtray across the room and demanding action, to an FBI inquiry into corruption, and to the flipping of the larger-than-life Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer, who had two apartments in Trump Tower, one for himself and one for his cats.

• Mexico breaks ranks with Concacaf to support Fifa chief

• Growing speculation country will switch to Conmebol

The Mexican football federations have broken ranks with the rest of Concacaf by issuing their public backing for beleaguered Fifa president Gianni Infantino in a move that has deepened world football’s civil war.

Concacaf has called for a thorough review of Fifa’s governance in the light of the World Cup sell-off debacle, and is backing Uefa’s demands for meaningful change, although has yet to follow their European counterparts by threatening to boycott tournaments if they do not achieve their objectives.

• European body says Fifa statement ‘changes nothing’

• Fifpro condemns ‘profound abuse of presidential power’

Uefa has doubled down on its threat to boycott Fifa-run competitions and reiterated its loss of confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency.

The latest damning intervention from European football’s governing body came as criticism of Infantino continued to rain in from several angles. The global players’ union, Fifpro, condemned “a profound abuse of presidential power” while the South American confederation, Conmebol, usually a strong Infantino ally, was moved to chastise “repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue”.

Gianni Infantino followed World Cup controversies with a widely scorned plan to let private investors in. Here’s how the game’s leaders can find a path forward

How can an organisation that runs the biggest sporting event in the world also be the one that sets the rules for the entire game? We saw the reality of such a conflict at the recent World Cup as Fifa ran roughshod over its rulebook – be it over the length of suspensions or the duration of half-time – in an attempt to generate more attention for its competition. One person with extensive knowledge of the inside workings of Fifa puts it like this: “They have shown that they will bend the rules to make them more money. This is a big conflict of interest. Not only should the commercial and the regulatory parts of Fifa be separated, but so should the development part and possibly one or two others as well.”