UEFA has declared it has lost confidence in FIFA president Gianni Infantino and is working with other confederations to explore options for removing him from office, after Infantino abandoned a widely condemned plan to sell private equity stakes in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions.
In a lengthy statement released Saturday, UEFA said the proposal had been unanimously rejected by its national associations and by federations and confederations around the world. The governing body accused Infantino of hatching a “shabby, back-room, opaque deal” that failed on his own promises of transparency made when he first sought the FIFA presidency in 2016.
“The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family,” UEFA’s statement read. “No option should be off the table.”
Infantino backs down
Infantino announced in the early hours of Saturday that the FIFA Forward Enterprise project would not proceed, citing divisions it had created within the football community. He said the proposal had been intended to strengthen FIFA member associations and would only have moved forward with majority support, but that it had become clear the divisions it caused were “no longer in the interest” of the original objective.
The reversal came less than 24 hours after he had attempted to defend his plans, blaming the media for misconstruing them. By the time he withdrew the proposal, opposing nations had risen to 135, representing 64 percent of FIFA’s membership. UEFA had also announced a boycott of FIFA competitions.
The final blow came from within FIFA itself. Carlos Cordeiro, a senior advisor to Infantino, resigned on Friday. Hours later, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour publicly criticised the plans and called on member nations to remove Infantino, stating the FIFA Forward Enterprise had been the brainchild of “one person.”
FA and CONCACAF back UEFA
The English FA, which had initially supported Infantino’s re-election bid, backed UEFA’s position. An FA spokeswoman called for “a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance” to ensure the global game is run transparently for the benefit of all 211 member nations.
CONCACAF also welcomed the withdrawal of the proposal, commending its 41 member associations for their “courage and unity.” The confederation said the events of recent days had exposed a pattern of poor governance and called for a full leadership review. CONCACAF’s statement described FIFA as “a body held in trust for the game and its members” and said accountability could not be optional where fiduciary duties were not upheld.
No-confidence vote possible
FIFA member nations can trigger a vote of no confidence against Infantino, who is seeking a fourth term in next year’s elections. The threshold to begin that process is 46 FIFA member associations. UEFA alone has 55 members.
The plan had involved significant investment from Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, with investment bank J.P. Morgan advising on potential investors. Democratic senator Ron Wyden, who leads an investigation into Jared Kushner, said soccer fans were rightfully outraged by what he described as a scheme to turn the World Cup into a commodity for private equity.
Norwegian Football Association president Lise Klaveness, a consistent critic of Infantino, said the entire framework of international football cooperation had been put at risk in pursuit of individual interests. She said governance mechanisms had not worked well enough and that the situation had reached a point where threatening to withdraw teams from FIFA competitions had become necessary.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter also weighed in, writing on social media that FIFA is not a private equity fund and that selling football’s “crown jewels” to private investors would mean selling part of the game itself.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the proposal was “outrageous” and that in his view Infantino was “the wrong man to lead the organisation.”
UEFA said it would begin work immediately with partners across the game to propose a new way of distributing FIFA’s existing reserves, which it said stand at over $5 billion. “We don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it,” the statement said. “This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story.”
