Gianni Infantino slammed by UEFA despite shamed FIFA boss scrapping World Cup plan
Gianni Infantino slammed by UEFA despite shamed FIFA boss scrapping World Cup plan
Alice Scarsi & Astha SaxenaSat, August 1, 2026 at 12:11 PM UTC
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FIFA boss Gianni Infantino is under mounting pressure -Credit:Getty
UEFA, Europe's football governing body, issued a statement this morning, just hours after FIFA abandoned its controversial plans to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors. The hard-hitting statement declared that FIFA president Gianni Infantino has "lost the confidence" of the organization as well as "that of many other members of the football family" due to the contentious World Cup proposal.
Infantino revealed overnight that the plan would be shelved after three confederations, including the European body, CONCACAF and the AFC, turned it down. UEFA went even further, threatening to boycott FIFA competitions unless the proposal was abandoned. Newly-appointed UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham also entered the fray, calling Mr Infantino the "wrong man" to lead FIFA.
After noting that the proposal to sell stakes in a World Cup company to investors faced opposition from UEFA's national associations and other federations worldwide, the statement said: "UEFA thanks all the fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations that opposed the scheme, alongside the many Prime Ministers, Heads of State and commentators who have demonstrated to the FIFA President that football is not for sale."
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Later in the statement, UEFA also said: "It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again.", reports the Express.
"That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table.
"The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family."
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Gianni Infantino was planning to sell stakes in the World Cup to investors linked to Donald Trump -Credit:Catherine Ivill - AMA, Getty Images
UEFA's statement made reference to an election speech delivered by Infantino a decade ago, in which he vowed transparency and pledged that "the money of FIFA is your money".
UEFA added: "On both these promises, he has failed to deliver."
The governing body accused Mr Infantino of orchestrating a "shabby, back room, opaque deal" over the World Cup sell-off stakes, before attempting to "force it through".
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Welcoming FIFA's decision to scrap the World Cup plan, UEFA announced it would begin working "immediately with partners and stakeholders all over the world and right across the game to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme".
It added: "We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in FIFA's bank account to deliver the kick start that the grassroots and the wider game need in each of the 211 countries of FIFA. But we don't need to sell off the family silver to pay for it.
"This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun."
Source: “AOL Sports”
