According to The Times, the Norwegian Football Association previously joined a complaint regarding FIFA President Gianni Infantino's alleged violation of political neutrality, but the FIFA Ethics Committee refused to provide the Norwegian Football Association with updates on the case.

The controversy stems from FIFA's first "Peace Prize," which Infantino awarded to US President Trump last year, raising questions about whether FIFA violated the principle of political neutrality.

The Norwegian Football Association previously joined an ethics complaint filed by the advocacy group FairSquare and wrote to the FIFA Ethics Committee requesting "timely information on the progress of the case and any significant procedural developments," while hoping that the relevant decision would ultimately be made public.

However, Martin Ngoga, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee, rejected this request.

In his reply, Ngoga stated: "Only individuals who are the subject of an investigation are considered 'parties' to the proceedings. Therefore, given the confidential nature of ethics investigation proceedings, we cannot provide any updates regarding whether such proceedings exist or what their current status is."

He also stated that the FIFA Ethics Committee "recognizes the importance of transparency."

Regarding whether the final outcome of the case would be made public, Ngoga wrote: "The decision on whether to publish the findings will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the applicable regulatory framework."

He also said that ethics committee investigators would "carefully and comprehensively consider all information submitted to them."

In addition to the "Peace Prize" controversy, the Norwegian Football Association is currently preparing another complaint against the FIFA Ethics Committee concerning the World Cup eligibility of American striker Folarin Balogun.

Balogun's World Cup eligibility was previously revoked, but the decision was overturned after Trump called Infantino, sparking controversy. Infantino, however, insisted that the decision was made independently and was unrelated to Trump's call.

The Times also reported that Infantino's public support on social media has significantly declined following the failed plan to sell World Cup commercial rights.

Social media analytics company Ravineo tracked over 6,500 social media posts across 33 markets worldwide. Data showed that earlier this year, the number of posts related to Infantino was not large, and most of the content was positive.

However, with the World Cup ticket pricing controversy, the Balogun incident, and the "FIFA Forward Enterprise" program emerging one after another, public opinion shifted dramatically.

Since The Times reported on FIFA's plan to sell World Cup commercial rights on July 28, the ratio of negative to positive posts about Infantino has reached 55 to 1.

Ravineo's research shows that content related to this crisis has accumulated over 418 million video views and 44 million interactions globally.

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