UEFA is accelerating efforts to remove Gianni Infantino from his position as FIFA president following his humiliating U-turn on controversial plans to sell stakes in tournaments such as the World Cup.
Infantino's attempt to push the plan through collapsed after UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation voiced their opposition. Just days after announcing the proposal, Infantino was forced to admit it had "created divisions" and was "no longer in the interest" of the game.
The plan had been devised as a way of securing support for a fourth term as FIFA president, but it now looks likely to hasten his downfall. UEFA has led the backlash and is weighing up the best way to remove him.
Sky News: Moves 'accelerating'
Sky News reports that moves to unseat Infantino are "accelerating" and that there is "a determined effort" to oust him. It is said to be no longer a question of if, but when, he will be toppled.
The simplest path would be for Infantino to resign from the role he has held for 10 years. If he refuses, 43 of FIFA's 211 member associations would be needed to call an emergency congress and trigger a vote of no confidence.
Alternatively, UEFA could rally behind a rival in the next election. According to TalkSPORT, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has asked federations that previously endorsed Infantino for a fourth term to withdraw their letters. CONCACAF leader Victor Montagliani and Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi could be put forward to run against Infantino.
UEFA says FIFA leadership has lost confidence
UEFA made its position clear in a statement on Saturday, saying it could not continue with "secret schemes on fast track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game."
"We must identify those responsible and hold them to account," the statement said. "It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again."
UEFA said the review should be "thorough and fundamental" and that "no option should be off the table." It accused the current FIFA leadership of losing the confidence of UEFA and many other members of the football family.
The statement also recalled Infantino's promises when he was elected in 2016, when he said FIFA money belonged to the national associations and would be used for the development of football. UEFA said he had failed to deliver on those promises and pointed to FIFA's reserves of more than $5bn sitting idle.
"We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in FIFA’s bank account to deliver the kick start that the grassroots and the wider game need in each of the 211 countries of FIFA," UEFA said. "But we don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it."
UEFA called the rejection of the proposal "a victory for the whole game" but stressed that it "must not be the end of the story." It added: "The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun."
