UEFA has accused FIFA president Gianni Infantino of deception in a joint statement issued Monday alongside the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF, which governs football in the Caribbean, North and Central America.
The statement said Infantino had broken trust "through deception" over his now-abandoned proposal to sell a stake in the commercial rights to the World Cup, worth £3.1billion, and had "placed himself above the collective" that entrusted him with authority. The three confederations called for a fully independent review of what happened.
"Football's strength has always been its unity," the statement concluded. "We call for that unity to be honored now, for leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it."
FIFA hits back
FIFA released its own statement on Saturday, criticising what it called a "concerted and ongoing effort" to "undermine" both the organisation and Infantino.
UEFA had already announced on Thursday that it would continue to boycott FIFA competitions if Infantino remains at the top of world football following the collapse of his plan to sell the World Cup stakes to private investors. Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness went further on Friday, calling for Infantino to resign.
Support for Infantino
Not every federation is behind the joint statement. Mexico's football federation broke ranks with CONCACAF to back Infantino, and Argentina, Qatar, Paraguay, Morocco and Egypt are among those in favour of him remaining as FIFA president.
Infantino has also faced allegations this week that UEFA made a "departure payment" to a female employee with whom he is alleged to have had a relationship while he was general secretary of European football's governing body. UEFA has confirmed a payment was made, but FIFA has labelled the allegation "categorically untrue."
Despite the joint statement from UEFA, AFC and CONCACAF, Infantino still appears to have enough support to survive a vote of no confidence and secure a fourth term in next March's election.
What the joint statement said
The statement said leadership in football "is not a possession" and "not about holding, or demanding, power to be held," but a duty of service to the football family. "When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned," it said.
It criticised FIFA's recent letter to its vice-presidents and 211 member associations for treating the episode as a failure of communication when "what football witnessed was a failure of judgment." The proposal was advanced "on a compressed timeline, without meaningful consultation, and pushed toward a deadline before Member Associations could properly review its terms," the statement said, calling it "the product of a design intended to limit scrutiny."
The statement also noted that FIFA has committed to presenting a full report on the events to the FIFA Council, but argued that proper governance would require the review to be conducted by "a fully independent third party," not by FIFA, its staff or any football stakeholder.
It said FIFA's own letter confirmed that only one elected official was present at a leadership meeting in Morocco, with no FIFA Council members or member associations invited, only the FIFA-employed senior staff of the management committee. The statement called the summoning of committee members abroad, rather than addressing FIFA staff in Zurich, "not the conduct of a custodian of the game, but of one who believes the game is answerable to him."
