FIFA lied about hiring a British PR and marketing firm to shill for its embattled president Gianni Infantino — just days before the UK agency launched an international media blitz as he fights for his political survival, leaked emails reviewed by The Post show.
The Zurich-based organization issued a blanket denial to this newspaper’s scoop on Friday that the Swiss-Italian sports suit was dipping into its coffers to hire Sir Martin Sorrell’s London outfit, Monks, to rehabilitate his image after his botched attempt to sell the game’s commercial assets to Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital.
A spokesperson claimed it was “demonstrably false to link a supplier contract with the FIFA presidential election” in March while refusing to hand over a copy of the agreement, citing a blanket policy of corporate secrecy.
It turns out, in fact, that it was demonstrably true.
A Tuesday email pitch blasted to international journalists, including the BBC, by Monks’ Sarah Jackson directly contradicted that denial, explicitly framing Infantino’s recent Caribbean junket around “attention increasingly turning towards the 2027 FIFA presidential election.”
Circulating fawning quotes from regional federation heads praising Infantino’s surge in FIFA funding, the PR firm urged reporters to use the material to counter recent criticism from a top regional rival, CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani.
Sorrell’s firm spoon-fed reporters a “compiled series of comments” from Caribbean football leaders. Jackson pitched the material as an “interesting piece when all put together” to combat the “wider debate around FIFA’s leadership” as the 2027 election approaches.
“Can you imagine Roger Goodell dipping into the NFL coffers to promote himself? He’d be pink-slipped on the spot,” fumed one top soccer source. “It’s time the suits in Zurich get a grip on the purse strings at FIFA because who knows where else he’s spending soccer’s cash for personal gain.”
The Post has approached Monks and FIFA for comment.
In her email blast, Jackson explicitly highlighted how regional presidents in the Caribbean were speaking out about “their support for Infantino and, in particular, the impact they say increased FIFA investment has had on (soccer) in their countries.”
The leaked pitch reads like a transactional ledger of political loyalty, showing local bosses pledging their allegiance in exchange for federation cash.
Michael Ricketts, president of the Jamaica Football Federation, is quoted gushing that Infantino “has done so very well for (soccer) globally”. Ricketts added that before Infantino’s regime, FIFA’s financial support was “menial, to say the least,” but “has been a lot better now.”
British Virgin Islands FA President Avanell Morton was quoted asking, “Well, what more can he do? He’s doing a fantastic job already. He’s doing a fantastic job for the entire region.”
Infantino travelled to the Caribbean this past week, as The Post reported exclusively, after shacking up for two days at the swanky St. Regis hotel in midtown Manhattan, where suites can cost just over $11,000 a night.
“This doesn’t surprise me,” said one senior FIFA insider regarding Infantino’s PR push and jet-setting. “Gianni never pays for anything out of his own pocket.”
The sports technocrat has largely been travelling on a Qatar-registered private jet to drum up support since the World Cup selloff deal collapsed.
Infantino was first elected as FIFA President in February 2016 after Sepp Blatter resigned. His potential fourth term would run from 2027 to 2031.
UEFA last month asked a Manhattan federal judge for permission to force Kushner and his venture capital firm, Thrive Capital, to turn over documents and sit for depositions. FIFA on Tuesday blasted that move as “harassment.”
The Post exclusively broke the news in July that FIFA scrapped a $20 billion plan to sell a slice of the game to Thrive Capital.
The fund is run by the younger brother of President Trump’s son-in-law and former senior White House adviser Jared Kushner.
UEFA bosses want to seek evidence for a possible criminal case in Switzerland under a US legal process known as discovery. Both UEFA and FIFA have their headquarters in the Alpine nation.