Norway asks FIFA ethics bodies to examine Infantino over 'abuse of power' claims

World football's governing body is facing a formal challenge from inside its own family. The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) said on Tuesday that it has made two parallel filings with FIFA committees, asking them to examine the conduct of President Gianni Infantino and the way decisions are taken at the top of the organisation.

The first filing is a complaint to FIFA's Ethics Committee. It asks the committee to examine Infantino and any other individuals identified during the investigation for potential breaches of FIFA's Code of Ethics. The second is a referral to the Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee, asking whether FIFA's governance, financial oversight, internal controls and decision-making processes have worked as intended.

The filings relate to three separate episodes. One is the FIFA Peace Prize awarded to United States President Donald Trump. Another is the lifting of a suspension on United States forward Folarin Balogun during the World Cup. The third is the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise project, a plan that would have allowed outside investors to buy minority stakes in a company set up to run FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup. The plan was dropped within days after a public backlash.

NFF president Lise Klaveness, a longstanding critic of Infantino, has argued that the three cases raise a common question: whether power was used unilaterally, without proper consultation with FIFA's Council and without regard to rules on political neutrality and conflicts of interest. The NFF says it has raised questions about governance, transparency and separation of powers for several years, and describes the filings as a natural continuation of that work.

The association says its purpose is to have the issues examined formally, evidence obtained and accountability reached for whatever conclusions follow. FIFA has not publicly resolved the complaints at the time of writing.

For ordinary fans, the dispute may sound distant from the pitch. But it goes to who controls the world's most popular sport: the member associations who own FIFA collectively, or a presidency accused by one of its own members of treating the institution as a personal office. Norway's move ensures that question now has to be answered in writing.