Three major football confederations have issued a joint letter accusing FIFA President Gianni Infantino of acting through 'deception' and abandoning his duty of service, amid fallout from a controversial plan to sell commercial rights to a private company.
UEFA, Concacaf, and the Asian Football Confederation have released an open letter criticizing FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino for breaking institutional trust. The three confederations, representing Europe, North America and the Caribbean, and Asia respectively, framed their concerns as fundamental questions about the integrity of football governance and leadership.
The dispute centres on the abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal, which would have created a new company to manage commercial and ticketing rights for all FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, with 21 percent of the venture sold to private investors. The confederations argue that FIFA's admission of procedural mistakes in handling the proposal does not address the core problem. They assert that "the proposal itself was inherently wrong" and constitute "a profound failure of judgement," not merely a procedural misstep. The letter emphasises that attempting to sell an interest in the World Cup represents "a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions Fifa exists to serve."
The confederations have criticized FIFA for excluding council members and associations from key meetings while summoning only FIFA-employed staff. They have also called for any governance review to be conducted by an independent third party, rather than FIFA's proposed internal investigation to be presented in October. The letter warns that there is "silence where there should be accountability."
While BBC Sport reports preliminary discussions about potential breakaway competitions have occurred among the three confederations, details remain undisclosed. UEFA has threatened a World Cup boycott, though France has indicated it will still compete in the upcoming Under-20 Women's World Cup in Poland. Support for Infantino remains divided across member nations, with Mexico backing him while eight AFC nations have publicly expressed support.
