Uefa declares loss of confidence in Infantino over scrapped World Cup investment plan
European and North American football bodies have publicly challenged Fifa's president after he withdrew a proposal to sell competition stakes to private investors, deepening a governance crisis ahead of his March re-election bid.
Uefa and Concacaf issued statements on Saturday declaring that Gianni Infantino's leadership of Fifa has lost their confidence, hours after the world governing body abandoned plans to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors. The coordinated rebuke from football's European and North American governing bodies represents the most direct institutional challenge to Infantino since he took office in 2016.
Uefa called the withdrawal a "victory for the whole game" but said the episode exposed a pattern of failure. "The current Fifa leadership has not only lost Uefa's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," the body stated.
Concacaf, which represents 41 member associations across North and Central America and the Caribbean, stopped short of naming Infantino but called for a "full review" of Fifa's leadership. It described the investment proposal as a "symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first."
The proposal, first reported in the media on Tuesday, had provoked immediate resistance. Uefa voted on Thursday to boycott World Cups if the plan proceeded, declaring that the tournament "cannot be treated as an investment product." Concacaf's members rejected it the same day, and the Asian Football Confederation expressed solidarity with both bodies.
By Friday, Fifa's own chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the administration had been "deceived" about the project. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned, calling the plan "a bad deal for football" that would "mortgage football's future."
For European football's economics, the stakes extend beyond one aborted deal. Uefa accused Infantino of letting money sit idle in Fifa's accounts rather than funding grassroots development, and pledged to work with other confederations on a new model for distributing resources through the existing Fifa Forward programme. The body also said it would develop safeguards to ensure a similar proposal "cannot occur again."
The political consequences for Infantino are severe. He faces re-election for a fourth term at the Fifa Congress in March, and the loss of backing from Uefa and Concacaf removes two of the most influential voting blocs in world football. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham became the first leader of a major country to call on Infantino to resign, calling him "the wrong man" to lead the organisation.
Not all voices turned against him. Qatar's football association, led by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, publicly backed Infantino, saying it "fully supports" his efforts to grow the game globally, while welcoming the decision to scrap the plans.
Fifa has not yet responded to Uefa's statement. The English Football Association endorsed Uefa's position and called for "a full and robust review of Fifa's leadership and governance." Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness warned that the episode "cannot end as merely another power struggle conducted behind closed doors."
