Gianni Infantino has ‘lost the confidence’ of UEFA with ‘shabby’ World Cup plan

Infantino announced overnight that the plan would not proceed after three confederations rejected it, with UEFA going further and pledging to boycott FIFA competitions until the proposal was scrapped.

While UEFA welcomed the decision to drop the proposal, it believes Infantino has lost the trust of the football world through his actions, describing the plan as a “shabby, back room, opaque deal”.

“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,” UEFA said.

“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 referenced an election speech from Infantino a decade ago, when he promised transparency and pledged that “the money of FIFA is your money”.

UEFA added: “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 five billion US dollars, he has also failed to use associations’ money for the benefit of the game.

“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.”

The Football Association echoed UEFA’s statement, with a spokeswoman saying: “We fully support UEFA’s position.

“It is time for a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently, for the benefit of all 211 member nations and with the long-term stewardship of football at its heart.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham also welcomed the climbdown, telling reporters in Manchester: “It’s the right decision.”

The Football Association of Wales, meanwhile, said on X: “The FAW supports UEFA’s position regarding a robust review of the leadership and governance of FIFA.

“FIFA and its members are custodians of the game, responsible for its long-term growth, development and sustainability. This requires leadership that puts our game first in all of our decisions.”

UEFA’s statement was followed by a similarly strongly worded response from CONCACAF, which read: “The events of recent days have exposed something that cannot now be set aside: the future of the FIFA World Cup, the greatest asset in world football, was advanced outside every established governance framework, without transparency, consultation or due process.

“A proposal of this magnitude does not reach that stage by accident. It is a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first.

“This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour. A full review of this leadership must now take place.”

Infantino was seeking approval from national associations to create a company, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run commercial and operational aspects of its competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups.

Most controversially, he proposed selling a 20 per cent stake in it to private investors. FIFA confirmed Thrive Eternal, founded by Joshua Kushner – the brother of United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – was set to lead the investor group.

Infantino said FFE would help “turbocharge” development funding, promising up to an additional 20 million US dollars (£15m) to associations who backed it by September 19 and big increases more widely across the next three World Cup cycles.

Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness, a long-standing critic of the FIFA president, also issued a statement saying the “entire framework of international football co-operation was unnecessarily put at risk in pursuit of individual interests rather than the best interests of the game” and calling for improved governance and a culture shift away from “fear and political positioning”.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Thani, president of the Qatar Football Association, was a rare voice of support for Infantino, welcoming the reversal but saying in a statement on X: “The Qatar Football Association fully supports President Infantino’s efforts to continue growing and strengthening the game globally.”

Infantino finally confirmed in the early hours of Saturday that the plan would not go ahead, with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF – the confederation for North America, Central America and the Caribbean – also opposed.

The question now is who might seek to challenge him for the presidency, with an election scheduled for March next year.

Paris St Germain president Nasser Al Khelaifi has been reported to have support among UEFA for a tilt at the job but sources close to the Qatari have indicated he is not interested.

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani – currently a FIFA vice-president – has also been mentioned in reports.

Infantino appears intent to carry on despite the humiliation over FFE, admitting it had “created divisions” but adding: “My intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks.”