Prince Ali Addresses Late Arab Cup Prize Money After FIFA Dispute

Jordan’s national team have finally been paid what they were owed for their run to the 2025 Arab Cup final – but their federation president, Prince Ali bin Hussein, insists the late windfall will not soften his stance against FIFA or its leader, Gianni Infantino.

Two days after accusing FIFA of “blackmail”, Ali revealed that the long-delayed prize money for reaching last December’s Arab Cup final in Qatar had landed in the federation’s accounts on Thursday morning.

“Thank you to the FIFA administration for suddenly this morning delivering what was owed to our players and coaching staff, for the Jordan National team’s accession to the final of the FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar last December,” Ali wrote on X. “This was funding that should have been received eight months ago.”

For the Jordan Football Association, the payment closes one financial headache that had dragged on since the end of the tournament. For FIFA, it lands in the middle of a political storm.

Ali had already gone public with allegations that world football’s governing body had tried to leverage Jordan’s difficulties during the World Cup period, claiming FIFA officials verbally indicated that supporting Infantino “would go a long way to helping our FA out”.

He had also criticised Infantino after the FIFA president abandoned a controversial proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights, a plan that had triggered fierce resistance from confederations and national associations and sparked threats of legal action from UEFA.

The Jordanian prince framed the sudden release of the Arab Cup money as part of a broader pattern around FIFA politics rather than a simple administrative delay.

“It is symptomatic of those exact difficulties that we all face and that are usually linked to the FIFA presidential elections,” he said, stressing that the payment did not alter his federation’s position.

Ali was unequivocal: “It does not change my clear position concerning the leadership of FIFA: my FA and I will not endorse President Infantino, nor will we vote for him.”

FIFA has not responded to requests for comment on Ali’s blackmail allegations. The organisation has, however, been scrambling to contain the wider fallout from its abandoned World Cup rights plan.

After a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday, FIFA’s leadership apologised to its member associations for mistakes made over the shelved proposal, while the ruling body closed ranks around Infantino and reaffirmed its backing for the president.

Infantino, in power since 2016, is pushing to extend his decade-long tenure into a fourth and final term, with the next presidential election scheduled for March.

Jordan’s players and staff now have the reward money they earned on the pitch. The real contest, though, is unfolding off it – in the corridors where votes are counted and allegiances tested before world football decides whether Infantino gets those extra four years.