‘There is no shortage of issues regarding FIFA. Let me start by clarifying what some of these are from an FA perspective, in particular that of Jordan going into a World Cup for the first time,’ Hussein said

‘We are a small country with a minimal budget for our FA and had to deal with enormous hurdles.

‘First, getting our fans into the USA: not all were granted VISAS, even though they had tickets – which we also know were sold at exorbitant prices.

‘Secondly, we are being taxed by the US government through FIFA for our participation. Money that should go to players and staff.

‘This was not the case for those who played and set up camp in Canada and Mexico. But we happened to be in the USA so now we face these huge costs in taxes for having participated.

‘Thirdly we have been waiting for reward money for our players since December for the Arab Cup in Qatar, which is a FIFA event.

‘The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet, while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve.

‘It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters – until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out.

‘We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now.

‘But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that.’

Daily Mail Sport have contacted FIFA for comment.

Former FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein criticized the soccer body’s leadership headed by Gianni Infantino on Tuesday, describing prize money withheld from his Jordan national team as a kind of blackmail.

Prince Ali said the Jordanian federation he leads still has not been paid money due for reaching the final of the FIFA Arab Cup played last December in Qatar.

In a social media post, Prince Ali said that during the World Cup — where Jordan made their debut in June — he was told if he endorsed FIFA president Infantino “it would go a long way to helping our FA out.”

Infantino is under pressure to save his 11-year presidency amid a fierce backlash from global soccer leaders about his now-failed plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to investors led by Joshua Kushner.

“We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now,” said Prince Ali, who placed third in a five-candidate FIFA presidential contest when Infantino was first elected in February 2016.

“But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that,” the Jordanian royal wrote Tuesday.

The 2025 FIFA Arab Cup that Jordan lost in the title match against Morocco was set to pay $4.2 million to the beaten finalist, Jordanian media reported last year.

“The money our team should receive for having reached the final has not been delivered yet,” Prince Ali wrote, “while at the same time FIFA brags about how many billions they have in reserve.”

“It is clear the problem really is with leadership. For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters,” he said.

FIFA was approached for comment about the claims.

Prince Ali was elected by Asian soccer to serve on FIFA’s ruling executive committee from 2011 to ’15, and stood against then-president Sepp Blatter in a May 2015 election. That vote to reelect Blatter was held in the shadow of raids at Zurich hotels two days earlier to arrest soccer officials as part of investigations by U.S. and Swiss federal agencies.

Infantino had seemed a lock to be reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term leading FIFA through 2031 when he left New York two weeks after the World Cup final.

Fallout from his secretive private equity plan revealed one week ago has rocked soccer politics with Infantino’s former colleagues at European soccer body UEFA now looking for a rival candidate. The proposal underwritten by Kushner’s Thrive Eternal fund would have paid $20 million each to Jordan and all other FIFA members had they accepted by a Sept. 19 deadline

UEFA also is threatening a boycott of FIFA games, events and meetings, while the leadership of the North American soccer body Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation, of which Jordan is a member, also have spoken out against Infantino.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for candidates to declare for the election by 211 member federations on March 18 in Rabat, Morocco.

Asia is seen as the key continent in any presidential contest that might yet be forced, with Europe and nations from North America, Central America and the Caribbean expected to want Infantino out while Africa, South America and Oceania are expected to back him.