FIFA threatened with breakaway World Cup as pressure on Infantino escalates

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FT Desk

UEFA, the AFC and Concacaf have threatened to start their own version of the World Cup if there is no major reform at FIFA.

Football's governing body is currently in turmoil following president Gianni Infantino's controversial proposal to sell shares in the World Cup to private equity firms. The reaction was so negative from just about everyone that the plans were soon scrapped, with UEFA accusing Infantino of trying to sell the soul of football.

UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, if FIFA went ahead with the plans.

It has been FIFA's reaction to the PR disaster that has also garnered plenty of criticism. In an open letter last week, signed by Infantino himself, the governing body apologised to its members for a lack of communication concerning the aforementioned proposals.

Crucially, there was no apology for the actual plans.

That prompted a major reaction from UEFA, the AFC and Concacaf, the governing bodies of European, Asian and South American football. The Guardian reports that, unless Infantino is removed and a major investigation is conducted into FIFA's governance, those organisations will create a breakaway international tournament away from the FIFA World Cup.

“Leadership in football is not a possession,” part of an open letter from the organisations reads.

“It is not about holding – or demanding – power to be held. It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it. When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.”

The governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception”

Last week, Infantino received a letter of support from the governing body of African football, the CAF, as well as the football associations of Mexico and Argentina.

UEFA have reportedly been working behind the scenes to ensure Infantino's removal either by forcing a resignation or putting support behind their own candidate for the FIFA presidency.

In addition to the criticism over the Football Forward Enterprise plans, Infantino is also under scrutiny for his increasingly close relationship with Donald Trump as FIFA is supposed to remain a politically neutral organisation.

Full Open Letter

See the open letter from UEFA, the AFC and Concacaf in full:

Dear Football Family,

Football is the world’s greatest shared passion. It belongs to no individual and no institution.

It belongs to the players, the fans, the clubs, the Member Associations and every institution entrusted with safeguarding its future.

It is in that spirit, as Confederations representing our members, that we speak collectively today.

The growth over the past decade has been real. But that progress was never the work of one individual. It was the product of FIFA, the Confederations, the Member Associations, and the thousands of people who dedicate their lives to the game.

The expanded tournaments, the awarding of the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups, the distribution of resources to associations. These were shared achievements, agreed together, delivered together.

This is not about money. The Confederations have already called for the responsible distribution of FIFA's vast existing reserves to further strengthen investment in the development of Member Associations.

Nor is it about any Member Association losing the support it has earned, despite the fearmongering directed at our membership to suggest otherwise. Nor is it about revisiting the expansion of competitions, World Cup allocations, or any other decisions reached collectively. Those decisions were made together, and they must stand.

This is about something more fundamental: the integrity of the game, and the integrity of those elected to lead it.

Leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about holding – or demanding – power to be held. It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it.

When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.

FIFA's recent letter to its Vice-Presidents and 211 Member Associations acknowledges that mistakes were made in the process. It treats this as a failure of communication, when what football witnessed was a failure of judgement. A proposal advanced on a compressed timeline, without meaningful consultation, and pushed towards a deadline before Member Associations could properly review its terms is not the product of an oversight – it is the product of a design intended to limit scrutiny.

It did not acknowledge that the proposal itself was inherently wrong. There remains no recognition that attempting to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup was a profound failure of judgement – not just a procedural misstep, but a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions FIFA exists to serve.

FIFA has also committed to presenting a full report on these events to the FIFA Council, once again failing to recognise that proper governance in the face of such a profound lack of judgement would require that such a review be conducted by a fully independent third party, not by FIFA itself, its staff, or by any stakeholder within football. The FIFA administration should play no role in conducting the review.

As per previous correspondence, all relevant documents and records must be preserved in accordance with UEFA’s communication on preservation of documents.

FIFA's own letter also confirms that only one elected official was present at the leadership meeting in Morocco. No FIFA Council members or Member Associations were invited to participate. Only the management committee, composed of FIFA-employed senior staff, was present.

This recent meeting, where a select number of members of the FIFA management committee – not the full committee – were summoned abroad, rather than leadership going to Zurich to address the heart of FIFA, its staff, only reinforces these concerns and represents a continuation of the very pattern of conduct that brought us to this moment. It is not the conduct of a custodian of the game, but of one who believes the game is answerable to him.

There is silence where there should be accountability, distance where there should be openness.

These are not the qualities football deserves in its leadership. That is why we have taken this stance: not lightly and not alone, but together, and out of duty to the game we serve.

Football’s strength has always been its unity. We call for that unity to be honoured now, for leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it.

Yours sincerely,

SALMAN BIN IBRAHIM AL KHALIFA (AFC President)

VICTOR MONTAGLIANI (Concacaf President)

ALEKSANDER ČEFERIN (UEFA President)

DATUK SERI WINDSOR JOHN (AFC General Secretary)

PHILIPPE MOGGIO (Concacaf General Secretary)

THEODORE THEODORIDIS (UEFA General Secretary)

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FT Desk

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