FIFA had planned to raise investment via the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would’ve seen nations bank extra funds if they’d agreed to the scheme before a mid-September deadline. The plans weren’t well received by fans, or most of the respective federations, with UEFA leading the charge against FIFA’s proposals.
All 55 nations in Europe committed to a boycott of FIFA competitions, with CONCACAF (North America) and the AFC (Asia) also coming out in opposition to the private investment plans. Infantino quietly announced a U-turn during the early hours of Saturday morning, but UEFA haven’t taken their foot off the pedal just yet.
A statement from UEFA read: “The current Fifa leadership has not only lost Uefa’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family. When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of Fifa’s member associations to elect him as their president in 2016, he said: ‘Of course we have to be transparent.’
“He told the assembled stakeholders: ‘The money of Fifa is your money. It’s not the money of the Fifa president. You are the national associations and the money of Fifa has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else.’ On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back-room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through were anything but transparent.”
It’s a sentiment that the English FA have backed completely, with a statement of their own reading: “We fully support UEFA’s position. It is time for a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently, for the benefit of all 211 member nations and with the long – term stewardship of football at its heart.”
It comes ahead of the planned FIFA presidential election next year, which prior to the recent saga Infantino was expected to win comfortably. However, there is now talk about a potential challenger emerging, with nominations having to be confirmed by November ahead of the March 2027 election.