CONCACAF has called for a "comprehensive reckoning" with Gianni Infantino's leadership of FIFA, joining UEFA in criticising the World Cup organiser's handling of an aborted plan to allow private investment in football's showpiece tournament.
North and Central American football's governing body issued the rebuke in a statement on Saturday, a day after Infantino abandoned the controversial proposal amid fierce global backlash.
"This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour," CONCACAF said. "A comprehensive reckoning with this presidency is imperative."
FIFA unveiled the plan on Tuesday, proposing a new commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the organisation's flagship events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup. The body would accept minority private investment under a scheme Infantino says would "turbocharge the development of the game globally," raising as much as $4.2 billion based on a $20 billion valuation.
FIFA said the plan, if approved, would hand each of its 211 member associations a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and lift their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20 million.
The proposal drew immediate opposition. UEFA led the charge, threatening to boycott FIFA competitions altogether. Facing mounting pressure, Infantino confirmed on Friday that the plan will not go ahead. "Our purpose has always been, and will always be, to unite and improve," he said in a statement. "As a result, this proposal will not proceed."
Deeper concerns
The climbdown failed to quell the crisis. UEFA, while welcoming the withdrawal, said Infantino has lost the "confidence" of European football and much of the wider football community over what it called a "shabby, back room, opaque deal."
"The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," the statement reads.
UEFA accused the 56-year-old Swiss official of breaking promises made when he first won election as FIFA president in 2016, when he pledged transparency and vowed that FIFA's finances belonged to member associations, not the presidency. "On both these promises, he has failed to deliver," UEFA said, noting FIFA's reserves stand at more than $5 billion. "He has also failed to use associations' money for the benefit of the game."
CONCACAF, whose members include 2026 World Cup co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico, welcomed Infantino's reversal but said the episode reflected deeper governance failures. "This concern is not CONCACAF's alone. It is shared across many confederations, Member Associations and those who serve and love the game," the confederation said, adding that a proposal of this scale did not reach that stage by accident.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), representing 47 member nations, adopts more measured language in also welcoming the plan's withdrawal. The Kuala Lumpur-based body says any initiative affecting global football should be "presented and discussed with the Confederations, the FIFA Council, Member Associations and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent and meaningful manner."
The backlash comes less than two weeks after Infantino oversaw a World Cup widely regarded as a commercial and sporting success: the first edition to feature 48 teams, staged across three host nations. The scale of the fallout now casts fresh doubt over his previously uncontested path to re-election for a final term next year.
