UEFA, soccer's governing body in Europe, has publicly declared it has lost confidence in FIFA president Gianni Infantino, following his now-abandoned plan to sell off parts of a commercial and events subsidiary to private investors.
Despite Infantino, who has been the president of global soccer's FIFA since 2016, announcing the full withdrawal of the FIFA Forward Enterprise project in the early hours of Saturday morning, UEFA has not been placated, having initially threatened to boycott FIFA competitions in future if the plans were implemented.
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In a statement, UEFA – whose own president, Aleksander Čeferin, is a vocal critic of Infantino's – said: "The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family."
"We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account."
Switzerland-based UEFA said that a review promised by FIFA into how this situation occurred "should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table.
"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."
Over the weekend, The Guardian publication reported that all of Europe's national soccer associations are planning to withdraw their letters of support for Infantino as he bids to become FIFA president for a fourth term in an election next March.
All but three of UEFA's member associations had written their letters of support for Infantino – who had been considered a shoo-in for re-election up until last week. However, should these be withdrawn, it will essentially amount to a vote of no confidence in the FIFA president.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) became the first home nation to withdraw its support this morning, stating: "The recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement have led us to a position where Mr Infantino has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the helm of world football.
"Failing to put the best interests of football first is a failure we cannot accept."
Infantino's statement backing down from the project suggested his intention to hold onto his position despite growing criticism, adding: "Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place …
"As a result, this proposal will not proceed. Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere."
Commenting on Infantino's motives, Conrad Wiacek, head of analysis and consulting at GlobalData Sport, said: "Gianni Infantino's proposals to effectively sell a minority stake in the FIFA World Cup have drawn swift condemnation from across the football landscape, but must be seen in context as the natural evolution of Infantino's approach to running soccer's governing body.
"While FIFA effectively saw power being drawn away from international football under a succession of predecessors towards the club game, Infantino has launched a counter-offensive and looked to consolidate soccer's power in FIFA and in himself. While he has managed to create new revenue streams for FIFA and develop a new commercial model, for which he must be commended, Infantino has unilaterally decided to push the envelope even further.
"By effectively creating an events company to manage the FIFA World Cup and selling stakes in this to those whom he feels have money, power, and influence, Infantino is creating a position for himself that he can effectively never be removed from. While his power as FIFA president is limited and may one day be lost, as chief or commissioner of the newly created company, Infantino is in power for as long as he wants it.
"As FIFA president, Infantino has never shied away from debasing himself and his organization to curry favour with influential people such as US President Donald Trump. Whether Infantino has finally overplayed his hand, only time will tell."
Reacting to Infantino's climb-down, Concacaf, which governs the game in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said that "unity had prevailed" and the plans had been a "symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first."
It added: "This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour. A full review of this leadership must now take place."
"When people entrusted with protecting the game conclude they can no longer do so from within, the football family is entitled to ask how such a proposal was allowed to proceed and who bears responsibility for it."
While UEFA and Concacaf have both come out strongly and essentially called for a change of leadership at the top of FIFA, some national associations have backed Infantino, including the Qatar Football Association.
The international governing body's plans would have involved raising $4.2 billion through minority sales – assuming a total valuation of $20 billion in the venture – by "carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests" in the subsidiary, which is currently being called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
FIFA had said this would have gone towards creating a new funding mechanism for its 211 member associations, called the FIFA Fast-Forward Programme (FFFP).
It was unveiled last week that JP Morgan had already been engaged to work alongside FIFA on the project, and that Greg Maffei, former president and chief executive of Liberty Media when the group owned Formula 1, was also involved. Capital holding company Thrive Eternal – led by the brother of US president Donald Trump's son-in-law – would have likely led the FFE investor group.
The scheme had already gathered expressions of interest from potential investors across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa, by the time it was announced last Tuesday, according to FIFA.
Infantino's project was also unveiled soon after the president announced that a formal review would examine expanding the World Cup to a 64-team tournament – almost one-third of the countries that enter the qualification process – starting in 2030.
