Uefa says it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s Fifa leadership as the fallout from the scrapped controversial investment plan intensifies.
On Saturday, Infantino said Fifa would no longer proceed with the proposal to sell stakes in the governing body’s competitions to private investors.
Uefa – which governs European football – had earlier voted to boycott World Cups if the plans went ahead, and other governing bodies also voiced their opposition.
In a lengthy statement on Saturday, Uefa said it welcomed the decision to withdraw the plan, describing it as “a victory for the whole game”.
It also accused Infantino of failing to deliver on promises, quoting a speech he gave when campaigning to become Fifa president in 2016.
“The current Fifa leadership has not only lost Uefa’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family,” the statement read.
“When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of Fifa’s member associations to elect him as their president in 2016, he said: ‘Of course we have to be transparent.’
“He told the assembled stakeholders: ‘The money of Fifa is your money. It’s not the money of the Fifa president. You are the national associations and the money of Fifa has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else.’
“On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through were anything but transparent.”
Earlier in the week, two other major confederations and senior figures close to Infantino spoke out against the plans.
“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story,” Uefa’s statement continued.
“The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in Fifa has only just begun.”
How did the proposal fall apart?
The proposal – first reported in the media on Tuesday – was met with widespread criticism, with Uefa voting on Thursday to boycott World Cups if the plans went ahead.
European football’s governing body said the World Cup “cannot be treated as an investment product”.
Two other major confederations then spoke out against the plans.
Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean – and hosted this summer’s World Cup – said its members “rejected” the proposal, with sources saying the vast majority of associations from the region are losing, or have lost, faith in Infantino.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said it stood in “solidarity” with Uefa and Concacaf, while UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead Fifa.
On Friday, Fifa’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the governing body’s own administration had been “deceived” about the project.
Carlos Cordeiro – Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance – resigned over the matter, saying the proposal was “a bad deal for football” and would “mortgage football’s future”.
