Exclusive | FIFA lied about paying for PR campaign to save Gianni Infantino days after hired-gun agency launched global blitz

FIFA lied about hiring a British marketing firm to shill for its embattled president Gianni Infantino — just days before the UK agency launched an international media blitz as he fights for his political survival, leaked emails reviewed by The Post show.The Zurich-based organization issued a blanket denial to this newspaper’s scoop on Friday that the Swiss-Italian sports suit was dipping into its coffers to hire Sir Martin Sorrell’s London outfit, Monks, to rehabilitate his image after his botched attempt to sell the game’s commercial assets to Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital.A spokesperson claimed it was “demonstrably false to link a supplier contract with the FIFA presidential election” in March while refusing to hand over a copy of the agreement, citing a blanket policy of corporate secrecy.Yet a Monday email pitch blasted to international journalists, including the BBC, by Monks’ Sarah Jackson directly contradicted that denial, explicitly framing Infantino’s recent Caribbean junket around “attention increasingly turning towards the 2027 FIFA presidential election.”Circulating fawning quotes from regional federation heads praising Infantino’s surge in FIFA funding, the PR firm urged reporters to use the material to counter recent criticism from a top regional rival, CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani.Sorrell’s firm spoon-fed reporters a “compiled series of comments” from Caribbean football leaders.Jackson pitched the material as an “interesting piece when all put together” to combat the “wider debate around FIFA’s leadership” as the 2027 election approaches.

“Can you imagine Roger Goodell dipping into the NFL coffers to promote himself? He’d be pink-slipped on the spot,” fumed one top soccer source.“It’s time the suits in Zurich get a grip on the purse strings at FIFA because who knows where else he’s spending soccer’s cash for personal gain.”The Post has approached Monks and FIFA for comment.In her em...