Uefa says it has lost confidence in Fifa president Gianni Infantino after he abandoned a controversial proposal to sell stakes in Fifa competitions to private investors. On Saturday Infantino announced the plan would not proceed, following intense opposition from Uefa and other confederations.
European football’s governing body had voted to boycott future World Cups if the scheme went ahead. While Uefa welcomed the withdrawal as “a victory for the whole game,” it also accused Infantino of failing to keep his 2016 campaign promises on transparency and on using Fifa funds for the benefit of national associations.
Uefa’s statement said the current Fifa leadership had lost the confidence of many members and described the proposal as a “shabby, back room, opaque” deal. It called for those responsible to be identified and held to account, pledged to draw up a plan with its associations and other confederations to prevent a repeat, and said it would work on distributing resources through the existing Fifa Forward programme rather than selling off assets.
The fallout has placed Infantino under intense pressure as he seeks re-election for a fourth term at the Fifa Congress in March. The Football Association backed Uefa’s position and urged a full review of Fifa leadership and governance. UK mayor-turned-PM Andy Burnham, who had been among the first major figures to call for Infantino to resign, said Fifa made the right choice in pulling the proposal. Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian FA, said the episode showed the need for improved governance and warned it must not be treated as another behind-closed-doors power struggle.
Chief football correspondent analysis in the wake of the collapse described Uefa’s criticism as unusually fierce and said the episode has severely damaged Infantino’s reputation. The Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf also condemned the plan, with Concacaf sources saying the majority of its members have lost faith in Infantino.
The proposal first emerged in media reports earlier in the week and quickly unraveled. Uefa’s Thursday boycott vote accelerated opposition. Fifa’s own chief operating officer said the organisation’s administration had been “deceived” about the project, and Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned, calling the idea “a bad deal for football” that would “mortgage football’s future.” Fifa has not yet formally responded to Uefa’s full statement.
Under the plans, Fifa would have created a commercial subsidiary to run major events, including World Cups, and invited third parties to make minority, non-controlling investments in that entity, called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) in planning documents. A 25-page document from JP Morgan outlined projections including expanded tournaments and increased payouts to member associations in future cycles. Observers noted the plans made no specific reference to the women’s game.
Reports named Thrive Eternal, a group linked to US venture capital firm Thrive, as the prospective lead investor. Thrive was founded by Joshua Kushner, a relative of a prominent political family, and the situation was reported to have become a public relations problem for its backers.
With the proposal withdrawn, Uefa says the work of rebuilding trust in Fifa has only just begun. The debate has shifted from the viability of a commercial deal to questions about governance, transparency and who within Fifa authorised and promoted the plan. Infantino now faces heightened scrutiny ahead of the March vote and calls from many quarters for clearer accountability and reforms to how the global game is run.
