Rui Pinto has spent years handing documents to prosecutors and journalists. On Wednesday he put a name on the man he believes buried the biggest of them.
In a post on X the day after Manchester City were found guilty of almost all of 115 Premier League financial charges, the 37-year-old Portuguese whistleblower accused Gianni Infantino of using his old UEFA role to help City and Paris Saint-Germain escape with fines rather than face a Champions League ban.
“Back in 2014, there was a man who was already aware of the irregularities involving Manchester City. That man now runs FIFA,” Pinto wrote.
“The infamous Gianni Infantino, then Uefa general secretary, abused his authority, shared confidential documents and, in short, outmanoeuvred the investigatory chamber, doing everything in his power to ensure that both Manchester City and PSG would merely receive a fine, avoiding a deeper investigation that could have led to a Champions League ban.”
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‘A cancer on football’
Pinto did not stop at the specific claim. He went for the man.
“Gianni Infantino has become a cancer on football and should have no place in the future of the game,” he wrote.
The underlying allegation is not new. Documents handed over by Football Leaks and published by Der Spiegel in 2018 already accused Infantino of informal contact with the two clubs during the 2014 Financial Fair Play investigation. What is new is the timing, and the register.
Timed to the City verdict
Pinto’s post landed within 24 hours of a Premier League independent commission finding City had broken financial rules across nine seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18, with sham commercial deals used to inflate revenue and cut costs by more than £900m, as Al Jazeera reported. The commission found the club guilty of all but one of the 115 charges.
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Manchester City said they were “disappointed and surprised” by the ruling and will appeal. No sanction has been set.
PSG have previously denied any wrongdoing over the 2014 case. Manchester City have long rejected the Football Leaks claims as well.
Six months from a FIFA election
The accusation lands less than six months before Infantino must defend his job. He is standing for a fourth term as FIFA president at the 77th FIFA Congress in Rabat, Morocco, on 18 March 2027, and the race is already loud. UEFA has called on him not to run and said it would help identify a credible alternative if he does. Candidates have until 18 November to declare.
Infantino himself has not addressed the post. BBC Sport said it had contacted FIFA for a response.
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