By Nick Mulvenney
Aug 4 (Reuters) – The reverberations from FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s abandoned proposal to sell off a stake in the World Cup continued to rage on Tuesday with one media report suggesting three regional confederations had united to try to force him out of office.
After three days of unprecedented civil war in the world of soccer administration last week, Infantino backed away from his plan to raise $4.2 billion from a new commercial rights body late on Friday night.
The 56-year-old apologised for how the proposal, which would have brought private investment into the World Cup for the first time, had divided the game, but his once unassailable bastion of power at the top of the global governing body was shattered.
Five European national associations, including England’s FA, have formally withdrawn their backing for Infantino’s reelection at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in March, while Denmark said they were never going to vote for him in any case.
The federations of Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon and Sri Lanka have so far publicly declared their continued support for the Swiss-Italian, who has run FIFA since 2016 and wants to stay on until 2031.
The numbers with firm public positions are small — 211 national federations will vote at Congress — but blindsiding major stakeholders in the game with his proposal has clearly lost Infantino allies among the regional confederations.
Powerful European confederation UEFA and CONCACAF, which runs the game in North and Central America and the Caribbean, issued strongly worded statements on Saturday saying they had lost confidence in his leadership.
The usually loyal Asian confederation (AFC) did not go so far in their criticism but called for institutional reform at FIFA after declaring the lack of consultation over the plan “totally unacceptable”.
According to a report in the Times of London on Monday, UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC are determined to force Infantino out of office by paralysing FIFA and even starting up their own competitions if he refuses to go.
CONCACAF, the AFC, and FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. UEFA said they had no comment.
UEFA have confirmed that they have sent a “document preservation letter” to FIFA for all material related to Infantino’s plan, although they are still mulling whether to start legal proceedings over it.
Infantino’s immediate concern will be to avoid the calling of an Extraordinary Congress, which would be triggered if 43 or more FIFA member associations make a formal written request for one.
Beyond that, he will have seven months to rebuild any damaged relationships with his supporters and shore up his position against challengers.
Infantino, like his two immediate predecessors as president, Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter, built his power base outside of Europe, where less wealthy associations rely on FIFA funds to keep the lights on.
It was at those associations that his controversial proposal was pitched, with promises of a dividend of $20 million to $40 million at the start of next year for each national body which backed the scheme.
Infantino’s opponents will need to find a candidate before the November 18 deadline for nominations for the FIFA election who can speak to those interests as well as the more prosperous associations in the traditional heartlands of the game.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, Suramya Kaushik and Shrivathsa Sridhar, editing by Peter Rutherford)
