{"id":851378,"date":"2026-08-11T11:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/851378\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:46:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:46:22","slug":"world-football-bodies-accuse-fifa-of-deception-in-world-cup-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/851378\/","title":{"rendered":"World football bodies accuse FIFA of ‘deception’ in World Cup plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football powerbrokers in Europe, North America and Asia believe FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s recent plan to sell an interest in the World Cup<\/a> was a \u201cfundamental breach of trust\u201d with the institutions that the sport’s global governing body serves.<\/p>\n

In an \u201copen letter to the football family\u201d revealed on Monday (local time), UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC also said that \u201cwhen trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned\u201d.<\/p>\n

UEFA runs football in Europe, CONCACAF is the confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean, and the AFC governs the sport in Asia.<\/p>\n

The letter was co-signed by UEFA president Aleksander \u010ceferin, AFC president Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani and the general secretaries of those continental governing bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is the world\u2019s greatest shared passion. It belongs to no individual and no institution. It belongs to the players, the fans, the clubs, the member associations and every institution entrusted with safeguarding its future,\u201d the open letter said. \u201cIt is in that spirit, as confederations representing its members, that we speak collectively today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino is facing a revolt after his failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup<\/a> to private equity investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the conduct of a custodian of the game, but of one who believes the game is answerable to him,\u201d the letter said. \u201cThese are not the qualities football deserves in its leadership. That is why we have taken this stance: not lightly and not alone, but together, and out of duty to the game we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino got some support from outside the game, with US President Donald Trump defending the FIFA leader in a social media post.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One of the expected FIFA investment partners is linked to the Trump family. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino,\u201d Trump posted. \u201cHe is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT\u201d<\/p>\n

UEFA previously issued a threat<\/a> to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions despite the governing body abandoning and apologising<\/a> for its failed plan.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s football federation called for Infantino to step down, while England’s Football Association has also withdrawn its support for Infantino\u2019s re-election next March.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball\u2019s strength has always been its unity. We call for that unity to be honoured now,\u201d the letter said. \u201cFor leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, FIFA said it had apologised for errors made over the failed plan but that senior staff at a crisis meeting in Morocco \u201creaffirmed their full support\u201d for Infantino’s presidency.<\/p>\n

However, the nature of the meeting was also met with criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA\u2019s own letter also confirms that only one elected official was present at the leadership meeting in Morocco,\u201d the open letter from the sport’s three continental federations said. \u201cNo FIFA Council members or Member Associations were invited to participate. Only the management committee, composed of FIFA-employed senior staff, was present.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA was also urged to go further than just acknowledging mistakes were made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt treats this as a failure of communication, when what football witnessed was a failure of judgment,\u201d the letter said. \u201cThere remains no recognition that attempting to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup was a profound failure of judgment \u2014 not just a procedural misstep, but a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions FIFA exists to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement released on Saturday, FIFA defended Infantino against what it called a \u201cconcerted and ongoing effort\u201d to undermine his leadership of the organisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football powerbrokers in Europe, North America and Asia believe FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s recent plan to sell an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,99,16135,596,85],"class_list":["post-851378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}