FIFA has confirmed it will not proceed with a plan to sell stakes in a company that would run the commercial and operational aspects of its competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups. The proposal was rejected by three confederations, including UEFA, whose 55 member associations had threatened to boycott FIFA competitions unless it was withdrawn.
UEFA welcomed the decision to drop the proposal but said in a statement that the current FIFA leadership “has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.”
Infantino says proposal will not proceed
FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced overnight that the plan would not go ahead. “It has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he said. “Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”
He added: “Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”
Opposition from confederations and a resignation
The move had already prompted UEFA’s 55 member associations to threaten a boycott of FIFA competitions unless the plan was withdrawn. Two other continental confederations also rejected it, and Infantino’s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned. Separately, Infantino’s relationship with Donald Trump raised eyebrows after a phone call over a red card.
UEFA calls for accountability
UEFA said in a statement: “We cannot keep going on like this 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.
“It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close co-operation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again.
“That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table. 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 also referenced an election speech from Infantino a decade ago, when he promised transparency and pledged that “the money of FIFA is your money”. UEFA said: “On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent.
“And with reserves standing at over 5 billion US dollars, he has also failed to use associations’ money for the benefit of the game.
“UEFA will begin work immediately with partners and stakeholders all over the world and right across the game to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
“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. But we don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it.
“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.”
