Gary Lineker is football crazy. But he’s also something else: an avid Buffalo Bills fan across the pond, a fresh darts enthusiast – and apparently a clairvoyant prophet.
Nine years ago, the former England striker tweeted something that now takes on a whole new meaning. In the midst of the World Cup wave, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino is putting forward plans to sell off shares in the World Cup in order to squeeze out billions, Lineker’s old posts have resurfaced. And it hits like a sledgehammer.
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“I have a strange feeling that Gianni Infantino is going to take off his mask – and expose Sepp Blatter.”
This is what Lineker wrote on X (then Twitter) in 2016. At the time, Infantino was new to the manager’s chair, and Lineker was early to express his doubts. Now, ten years later, football fans are left with an eerie feeling that he was absolutely right. – And more than that.
Because while Blatter had to go after corruption charges and embezzlement of millions, it is now Infantino who is in the spotlight. The accusations hail: the sale of World Cup rights, alleged preferential treatment of Argentina, and not least – the reversal of Folarin Balogun’s red card after direct pressure from Donald Trump.
From triumph to storm
Infantino has the formal support of over 200 of FIFA’s member states to be re-elected to a fourth term in March. But the resistance is growing. UEFA has issued an explosive statement condemning the way he has “monopolized” the people’s game, and the newly appointed British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is among those who have publicly criticized him.
Even Germany – one of the heaviest football teams in the world – is said to have refused to sign the letter of support for Infantino. Only a handful of FIFA’s 211 member countries are left without having submitted their official support.
Lineker saw it before everyone else
Football fans are stunned by how accurate Lineker’s prediction has turned out to be. When Blatter fell, it was because of corruption charges related to payments to Michel Platini and the sale of TV rights at a lower price. Now Infantino is being accused of the same thing – and worse: The European Parliament is investigating him for his handling of football and his relationship with the White House.
Lineker’s tweet from 2016 was not just a joke. It was a warning. And now, in the midst of the World Cup uproar, with billion-dollar plans, corruption and high-level political games, his words seem more frighteningly relevant than ever.
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