Uefa has doubled down on its threat to boycott Fifa-run competitions and reiterated its loss of confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency.
The latest damning intervention from European football’s governing body came as criticism of Infantino continued to rain in from several angles. The global players’ union, Fifpro, condemned “a profound abuse of presidential power” while the South American confederation, Conmebol, usually a strong Infantino ally, was moved to chastise “repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue”.
It is Uefa’s continued stance, though, that may damage Infantino most severely. In a statement it said Fifa’s public backing of Infantino on Wednesday night “changes nothing” and explained it was not convinced repeats of the past nine days’ crisis will not occur.
Last week Uefa’s 55 member associations agreed to boycott Fifa tournaments if Infantino did not withdraw his privately funded Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme and, although the plan was scrapped last Friday, it said the terms necessary to avert the boycott have not been met.
“Uefa’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to their non-participation in Fifa competitions,” it said. “First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and, secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.
“These conditions have not been met. In addition, Uefa made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency. That position holds. Yesterday’s announcement that some people employed by the Fifa president (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing.”
It heightens the turmoil enveloping football’s governance. If no accord is reached before the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which begins in Poland on 5 September, that would be the first tournament subjected to a Uefa-led boycott.
Uefa remains hopeful it can exploit divisions within Fifa’s leadership despite the Infantino-led show of unity following Wednesday’s meeting of some of its management board in Rabat.
There were several notable absentees, however, and it is understood that Arsène Wenger declined an invitation to travel to Morocco in his capacity as Fifa’s chief of global development because of a desire to distance himself from Infantino. The former Arsenal manager had launched a scathing attack on the World Cup sell-off plans, saying it was “absolutely necessary and beyond question” that they were scrapped.
In contrast to Wenger, Fifa’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, who had described the proposals as “the project of one person”, was not invited to the summit in a development that will raise further questions over his future. Additionally Jill Ellis, the chief football officer, and Sarai Bareman, the chief women’s football officer, were not present in Rabat.
While Fifa has sent apologies to the Fifa council and member associations for their exclusion from the FFE process, it is believed that those sentiments failed to sway a large percentage of council members.
A handful of Uefa federations have withdrawn letters of support for Infantino’s re-election for a fourth term, although the early rush to make such declarations has slowed. The Football Association has now written to Fifa formally retracting its backing.
Uefa’s repeat of its boycott threat was followed by a scathing release from Fifpro. Before the World Cup Fifpro signalled its intention to work with Fifa by signing a memorandum of understanding but that has proved the briefest of truces.
Alongside the criticism, Fifpro wrote to Fifa making a series of demands, including giving players voting rights on the Fifa council, which is supposed to be the main decision-making body but has often been bypassed by Infantino.
“Fifa Forward Enterprise is gone, but the abuse of power that produced it is not,” Fifpro said. “Governance reforms, not a cover-up, are urgently needed. The withdrawal of FFE was inevitable. But withdrawing the proposal does not erase what it revealed.
“A plan capable of permanently altering the ownership and governance of the Fifa World Cup … was conceived in secrecy, negotiated behind closed doors and brought to the brink of agreement before the Fifa council, the member associations, players and football’s recognised stakeholders even knew it existed. That is not merely a governance failure. It is a profound abuse of presidential power.”
Conmebol, three of whose members are in line to host matches at the 2030 World Cup, had waited more than a week to comment publicly. While its disapproval was clear it stopped short of pushing for immediate change.
In a statement it said the Conmebol council “unanimously expresses its concern regarding the repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue or to the institutional mechanisms established to address situations of this nature.”
While Uefa is leading efforts to unseat Infantino before Fifa’s election in March, Conmebol pointed out the timeline for the process has already been set. “Accordingly, Conmebol will not support any action or procedure that disregards or departs from those institutional mechanisms,” it said.
Earlier on Thursday the Jordan Football Association president, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, said Fifa had paid bonuses owed from last December’s Arab Cup but clarified he would still oppose Infantino. The money appears to have materialised after Prince Ali accused Fifa of “blackmail”, saying the governing body had threatened to withhold funds if Jordan refused to back Infantino’s re-election.
“Thank you to the Fifa administration for suddenly this morning delivering what was owed to our players and coaching staff, for the Jordan national team’s accession to the final of the Fifa Arab Cup in Qatar last December,” he wrote.
“This was funding that should have been received eight months ago … It is symptomatic of those exact difficulties that we all face, and that are usually linked to the Fifa presidential elections. And it does not change my clear position concerning the leadership of Fifa: my FA and I will not endorse president Infantino, nor will we vote for him.”
Meanwhile on Thursday, the executive committee of the African confederation (Caf) unanimously confirmed its support for Infantino. In a statement it said: “The Caf executive committee unanimously endorses the joint update by the Fifa president and secretary general on the FFE and will continue to focus on making African Football amongst the best in the world and adhering to governance and transparency global best practices.”
