UEFA has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino after the FIFA president withdrew his proposal to bring private investors into the commercial business behind the World Cup. European football’s governing body welcomed the cancellation but said the crisis could not end with the abandonment of the project, calling for those responsible to be identified and held accountable.
Infantino announced during the night between Friday and Saturday that FIFA would no longer pursue FIFA Forward Enterprise, the company that would have combined the commercial and operational activities of competitions including the World Cup. The organisation had planned to sell a minority stake of around 20 percent to private investors and raise as much as USD 4.2 billion (€3.64 billion).
According to FIFA’s explanation of the withdrawal, the project had been intended to generate more funding for national football associations. Infantino acknowledged that the division caused by the proposal no longer served that objective. The reversal followed coordinated opposition from UEFA, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, or Concacaf, and the Asian Football Confederation, or AFC.
UEFA says FIFA’s leadership has lost its confidence
In a statement reported by Yle and TV4, UEFA said the current FIFA leadership had lost not only its confidence but also that of many other organisations within international football.
“We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, devised behind closed doors by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game,” UEFA said. “We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.”
UEFA said it would work with its 55 national associations and other continental confederations to establish how the plan had been developed and prevent a similar process from happening again.
The review should be “thorough and fundamental”, the organisation said, adding that no option should be excluded. Although the statement did not explicitly demand Infantino’s resignation, it transformed the dispute from a disagreement over one commercial proposal into a wider challenge to his leadership.
A plan developed without football’s governing bodies
FIFA presented the original proposal on 28 July. The planned subsidiary would have managed broadcasting rights, sponsorships, ticketing, licensing and the operational organisation of FIFA tournaments.
FIFA estimated the company at USD 20 billion (€17.3 billion) and intended to sell non-controlling shares to external investors. The organisation maintained that investors would have received no authority over tournament formats, the international calendar or sporting rules. (FIFA)
The strongest criticism concerned not only the substance of the deal but also the way it was prepared. UEFA, Concacaf and several national federations said they had not been consulted before the detailed project became public.
UEFA described the proposal as a “shabby, back-room, opaque deal” and contrasted it with the promises Infantino made before his first election as FIFA president in 2016. At the time, he told national associations that FIFA’s money belonged to them and should be used exclusively for football development.
“On both these promises, he has failed to deliver,” UEFA said, referring to transparency and the distribution of FIFA’s resources.
The threat of a World Cup boycott changed the balance
The withdrawal followed an emergency UEFA meeting in which all 55 European member associations unanimously rejected the project. The federations agreed to support a boycott of FIFA competitions, involving both men’s and women’s teams, for as long as the proposal remained active.
The Danish Football Association (Dansk Boldspil-Union, DBU) supported the European position. DBU president Jesper Møller told DR that the association would support measures intended to stop the project.
The boycott threat became more effective when Concacaf and the AFC also opposed the process. Together, the three confederations represent 137 of FIFA’s 211 member associations, making it practically impossible for Infantino to secure the majority required to approve the proposal.
The episode demonstrated that European federations can still block major FIFA projects when they act collectively and gain support outside Europe. It also marked one of the most serious institutional confrontations of Infantino’s ten years as president.
Finland withdraws its support for Infantino
The crisis has also directly affected Infantino’s attempt to secure another term in office in 2027.
The Football Association of Finland (Suomen Palloliitto) formally withdrew its support for his re-election. Its president, Ari Lahti, said the decision was final and that Infantino no longer had the Finnish association’s confidence.
“The support has been permanently lost, and a decision has been made. Infantino does not enjoy the confidence of the Football Association of Finland,” Lahti told Yle.
Lahti said it could now be difficult for Infantino to continue as FIFA president because the European position had become increasingly unified. Finland had previously supported his candidacy but changed its position after the private investment proposal and the absence of consultation around it.
Denmark had already declined to endorse Infantino before the latest controversy. DBU did not support his re-election in 2023 and had not committed itself to his candidacy for 2027.
Criticism has emerged from inside FIFA
The opposition has not come only from continental and national federations.
According to Yle, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the organisation’s governing bodies had been misled and described the investment proposal as the project of one man. Infantino adviser Carlos Cordeiro also resigned following the controversy.
These developments have strengthened the argument that the proposal was developed by a small group around the president rather than through FIFA’s ordinary governance structures.
Infantino has said he intends to stand for re-election at the FIFA Congress scheduled for March 2027. Before the dispute, he claimed that more than 200 member associations had expressed support for another term. The loss of confidence among European federations does not automatically prevent his re-election, because UEFA represents only 55 of FIFA’s 211 votes. It does, however, make an uncontested election more politically difficult. (FIFA)
The dispute will continue after the withdrawal
UEFA described the cancellation as a victory for football but said it should not be the end of the story.
The organisation now wants to examine who designed the project, how negotiations with private investors were conducted and why FIFA’s own members were not consulted earlier. It also intends to propose an alternative way to distribute more of FIFA’s financial reserves through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
“The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun,” UEFA said.
The next phase of the conflict will therefore concern Infantino’s position and FIFA’s internal governance, rather than the investment company itself. Nordic federations, particularly Finland and Denmark, are already part of the European pressure for greater transparency.
Whether that pressure leads to Infantino’s departure, an opposing candidate in 2027 or structural reforms inside FIFA will depend on how many federations outside Europe continue to support UEFA’s demand for accountability.
