UEFA AFC CONCACAF Slam Infantino Over World Cup Privatisation Plan
Three of world football’s biggest regional governing bodies, UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and CONCACAF, jointly accused FIFA President Gianni Infantino of a “fundamental breach of trust” on Monday, releasing a scathing open letter that declared football “belongs to no individual” as the fallout from his abandoned World Cup privatisation plan continues to escalate.
In the letter, titled “an open letter to the football family” and signed by the heads of the three confederations, which together represent 143 of FIFA’s 211 member associations, the bodies said the now-scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme represented a “profound failure of judgment.” Without naming Infantino directly, the statement accused a leader who had “placed himself above the collective” of acting as though the game itself were answerable to him, and said trust had been broken “through deception.”
The letter framed the dispute as extending well beyond the specifics of the abandoned deal. According to the confederations, the episode raises deeper questions about the integrity of the game and the integrity of those elected to lead it, arguing that leadership in football is not a possession to be held or demanded, but a duty of service to the football family that confers it. The three bodies called for a fully independent, third-party review of how the FFE proposal was developed and pushed toward member associations on what they described as a compressed timeline, without meaningful consultation, ahead of a deadline set before proper governance processes could be followed.
The confederations also criticised the conduct of a FIFA management committee meeting held in Rabat, Morocco, last week, which had concluded with a statement publicly reaffirming support for Infantino rather than addressing the confederations’ broader governance concerns.
FIFA pushed back forcefully over the weekend, issuing its own statement on Saturday alleging a coordinated and ongoing effort by certain parties to undermine both the organisation and its president. On Friday, as Infantino attended the presidential inauguration of Colombia’s Abelardo De La Espriella in Cali, FIFA had separately insisted that any challenge to his leadership must proceed through the organisation’s formal statutes and democratic procedures.
The dispute has increasingly split world football along regional lines. UEFA had already confirmed its intention to boycott FIFA competitions for as long as Infantino remains in charge, and reports suggest the three confederations have opened preliminary talks about organising their own tournaments independent of FIFA, in part to ensure players under their jurisdictions retain meaningful opportunities to compete. In contrast, CAF, representing all 54 of Africa’s member associations, reaffirmed its backing for Infantino last Thursday, a position since joined by CONCACAF member Mexico and South American federations including Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
With FIFA’s presidential election scheduled for March 2027, the joint letter closed with a direct appeal for unity, calling on football’s governing body to embrace leadership that serves the game rather than seeks to command it, as the standoff between Infantino and several of the sport’s most powerful regional bodies shows no sign of resolution.
About the Author
