Claudius Schaefer, president of the organization representing 53 European men's and women's professional football leagues, said on Sunday that there could be only one consequence for FIFA president Gianni Infantino after a failed proposal to sell a stake in World Cup commercial rights triggered criticism from regional associations.
Schaefer told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung that seeing how the situation unfolded, with FIFA's main governing bodies left out, meant there was essentially only one consequence in any company or association. Asked if this meant Infantino was no longer acceptable as FIFA president, Schaefer said that is usually the consequence when someone in a company pushes through a deal of that size without anyone knowing.
FIFA drops the plan
On Friday, Infantino said FIFA had abandoned the plan following a strong negative reaction. On Saturday, the regional confederations UEFA and Concacaf said they had lost confidence in his leadership.
Schaefer, who is also executive director of the Swiss Football League, said the proposal showed FIFA's main goal was maximizing third-party profits by creating more and bigger competitions in the future. He said it was purely about financial advantages, with everything else completely ignored. Schaefer said the European Leagues opposed the plan because it would add matches to an already overloaded international calendar, harming domestic championships. He said nobody knew of the plans, not even FIFA's Council, and that he was very surprised the president acted entirely alone on the matter.
