Guilt by association

Internal documents suggest that former head of Fifa Legends Miguel Macedo was offered tickets by Fifa to at least six games played at the World Cup in Qatar, despite having been found guilty in 2020 of sexual harassment towards a young female Fifa subordinate by both an internal and an external investigation.

By Philippe Auclair

Miguel Macedo had landed one of the best jobs in Fifa. Being head of the 'Fifa Legends' meant that he travelled the world in the company of former star players who now acted as ambassadors, some would say propagandists, for Gianni Infantino's organisation. It was a well-paid occupation, with all the trappings attached to such a position within Fifa: business class travel and five-star hotels, not mentioning the glamour attached to being in the company of the likes of Cafu, Luis Figo or Roberto Carlos, something which the Portuguese agent was not insensitive to.

Infantino and Macedo, the administrator of the Portuguese ISM football agency since 2007, had known each for a long time, well before these 'Legends' played their first impromptu match in February 2016, on the very day the former Uefa general secretary entered the headquarters in Zurich as Fifa president. Sources describe him as not just a friend, but a confidant whose advice Infantino would seek. Miguel Macedo had played a part in organising Gianni Infantino’s campaign for the Fifa presidency. In other words, Macedo was part of the close circle of friends which Infantino had built throughout his years at Uefa and who, to this day, constitute a power within a power in Zurich.

Macedo's closeness to the president and high-profile job for Fifa made it a major embarrassment for his employer when one of his subordinates, who'd joined the Fifa Legends te...