UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation published an open letter to the "football family" on Monday, accusing FIFA president Gianni Infantino of breaking trust through deceit after a failed attempt by FIFA to create a subsidiary to commercialize the World Cup.
The letter calls for unity among all parties involved in the sport and demands transparency from FIFA in its processes. It was signed by the presidents and secretaries general of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin and Theodore Theodoridis; of CONCACAF, Victor Montagliani and Philippe Moggio; and of the AFC, Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa and Datuk Seri Windsor John.
Leadership in football is not something to be owned, the confederations said, but a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it. They said that when trust is broken through deceit, and when one person places themselves above the collective that granted them authority, that duty has been abandoned.
Not a dispute over money
The confederations said the dispute is not about money, about losing support, or about reconsidering the expansion of competitions, a decision they said was taken jointly. Instead, they said it concerns the integrity of football and the integrity of those elected to lead it.
FIFA's World Cup stake plan
The letter criticized a recent FIFA communication to its vice presidents and its 211 member federations that outlined a project to sell a stake in the World Cup, calling it a misjudgment. According to the confederations, the proposal was presented on a very tight deadline, without meaningful consultation, and pushed toward a cutoff date before member federations could properly review its terms. They said this was not an oversight but a design intended to limit scrutiny, and accused FIFA of violating the trust of the institutions it is meant to serve.
Criticism of Morocco meeting
The confederations also criticized the review of the report to be presented to the FIFA Council, saying it was not carried out by a fully independent third party. They objected to the representation of only one elected official at a recent leadership meeting held in Morocco.
That meeting, they said, brought a select number of members of FIFA's management committee abroad instead of having leaders travel to Zurich to address FIFA staff directly. They said this only reinforced their concerns and continued the pattern of conduct that led to the current situation, describing it as not the conduct of a guardian of football but of someone who believes football owes him accountability.
Call for accountability
The confederations closed the letter by calling for respect for unity and urging FIFA's leaders to serve football rather than seek to command it.
They said there is silence where there should be accountability, and distance where there should be transparency, adding that these are not the qualities football deserves in its leaders. They said they had adopted this position not lightly or alone, but together, out of the duty they owe to the football they serve.
