Poiares Maduro says FIFA criticism costs hosting chances

Former FIFA governance committee chairman Miguel Poiares Maduro told ECO that Portugal would never have had the chance to host the 2030 World Cup if it had openly criticised FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

In an interview published on the day the 2026 World Cup begins, Poiares Maduro said FIFA operates in a “transactional logic”, offering benefits such as funding or hosting rights in exchange for votes and loyalty that keep its leadership in power. “If Portugal had been critical of Infantino, we would never have had the opportunity to organise the World Cup,” he said.

Poiares Maduro, a former Portuguese minister who led FIFA’s governance committee in 2016-17 before leaving after a conflict with Infantino, said some officials in Portuguese football and other federations would like the system to work differently but cannot say so publicly.

He said he had a good impression of Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença and believed some Portuguese officials were aware of the governance problems and would welcome reforms imposed from outside.

He argued that any outside intervention should focus on governance standards rather than direct political control of football. He pointed to three priorities: a clearer separation between FIFA’s regulatory role and its commercial activities, changes to make elections more representative and open, and genuinely independent oversight bodies inside sports organisations.

Originally published at Eco.pt