The governing body of European soccer, UEFA, has officially declared that it no longer holds confidence in FIFA President Gianni Infantino. This move follows a tumultuous week of global opposition that forced the FIFA chief to abandon an ambitious and highly controversial plan to sell World Cup profits to private investors.
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin, who spearheaded the opposition, stated that "no option should be off the table" regarding the future of the FIFA presidency.
In a blunt assessment, UEFA noted that the current FIFA leadership has lost the trust of not only European soccer but also many other members of the global football community.
The organization criticized the scrapped proposal as a secret scheme developed on fast-track timelines by individuals who were not transparent, questioning the actual benefit such a deal would have provided to the sport. UEFA stated it must identify those responsible and hold them to account, while working with its associations and other confederations to ensure such a situation cannot occur again.
Infantino had sought to create a $20 billion subsidiary to manage commercial businesses, including men's and women's World Cups and Club World Cups, with 20% of the entity to be held by private investors. The proposal identified an "anchor investor" as a New York-based investment firm launched by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The plan drew immediate and growing backlash, culminating in the resignation of Carlos Cordeiro on Friday. Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker and FIFA senior adviser who served on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out against the project.
Lamour, a longtime colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA, described the proposal as the project of one person and suggested it was time for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.
The collapse of the project was accelerated when UEFA’s 55-member nations reached an agreement on Thursday to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions if the plan proceeded. Similar opposition was voiced by the Asian Football Confederation and North America's CONCACAF. Faced with this united front, FIFA withdrew the private equity plan early Saturday.
While this is the third time during his tenure that Infantino has faced significant backlash for major initiatives—including a previous, failed proposal to host the World Cup every two years, which also angered the International Olympic Committee—this marks the first instance where UEFA has moved quickly to build momentum for his removal. Despite previous controversies, Infantino was re-elected unopposed in both 2019 and 2023. However, the current situation appears distinct.
The deadline for candidates to enter the next presidential contest is November 18, exactly four months before the scheduled vote in Rabat, Morocco, where FIFA has its African headquarters. Securing a majority in a contested election would require 106 votes. While continents do not always vote uniformly, a coalition of most of Europe's 55 members, Asia's 46, and CONCACAF's 35 would provide a solid base for a potential leadership challenge.
The second half kicked off Saturday with what seemed a clear aim of ending Infantino's decade-long presidency.
