Infantino case, three Federations take sides against him: "Trust betrayed by deception"

The Federations of Europe, Asia and Central-North America, three of the six continental confederations that make up FIFA, are lining up against Gianni Infantino. The presidents and general secretaries of UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Concacaf, which manages football in North and Central America, have published a very harsh open letter against the number one in world football, accusing him of “having betrayed trust through deception”.

The charges relate to the project called ‘Football Forward Enterprise’Infantino’s proposal, later withdrawn after the controversy following the press rumors, to want to sell FIFA shares to private investors.

The attack of UEFA, AFC and Concafaf: “Little transparency on the part of FIFA”

In the long joint statement, the president of UefaAleksander Ceferin, that ofAfcAl Khalifa and that of ConcafafVictor Montagliani accuse the head of world football’s governing body of “lack of judgement” and of failing to recognize that his proposal was “inherently wrong”. “The attempt to sell a share of the FIFA World Cup was a serious error of judgement, not only a procedural error, but a fundamental breach of trust in the very institutions that FIFA is supposed to protect”, add the three presidents.

The presidents of the European, Asian and Central-North American federations also accuse FIFA leaders of lack of transparency: “Fifa has undertaken to present a complete report on these events to the Council”, say the three federations, but an investigation should be conducted by a third body and not by the management group close to Infantino, they add. “The Fifa administration should have no role in carrying out the investigation”, say UEFA, Concacaf and AFC, pointing the finger at the extraordinary summit convened by Infantino in Morocco last week in the presence of only the organisation’s senior leaders.

The position taken by the three federations comes in the aftermath of the long note with which FIFA went on the counterattack, in the increasingly political and less sporting war for the governance of world football. In the FIFA note, the management group close to Infantino rallied around its top leader, speaking of a “concerted and continuous effort by some to weaken” the governing body of world football and its president. Infantino is resisting for now and doesn’t seem willing to take a step back the Federations that are against him are apparently looking for a suitable candidate to replace him.

Infantino’s supporters

The next elections for the FIFA presidency will be held in March 2027, and candidates must announce their candidacy by November 18. Montagliani himself, one of the signatories of the open letter and head of Central-North American football, could be one of the main contenders. In the meantime, the forces on the field can be counted. If Europe, Asia and Central and North America are against Infantino, the influential African and South American confederations, Caf and Conmebol, have both expressed their support for the current president. Public support was expressed by the Mexican Federation (one of the three countries that hosted the recently concluded World Cup) and from that of Argentina which joined Qatar, Egypt and Morocco in openly supporting the increasingly controversial number one in world football.