Online Reporter
THE Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) have warned Gianni Infantino that his style of leadership cannot continue, as they demanded a thorough and fundamental review of FIFA’s governance.
In a strongly worded statement that referred to “secret schemes”, “shabby backroom deals” and “faceless individuals”, the UEFA leadership made clear they want change at the top of FIFA, despite the world-governing body’s overnight U-turn in abandoning Infantino’s plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup and other competitions.
While stopping short of calling for Infantino to resign, UEFA’s leadership is understood to be determined that he should not be permitted to survive a crisis of his own making, a view that is shared by many of the biggest football-governing bodies across the world.
Leading European officials are understood to have begun the process of identifying a candidate to stand against Infantino in next year’s FIFA presidential election, which will continue over the next few days.
UEFA’s statement made clear that under the leadership of president Aleksander Ceferin, who succeeded in getting all 55 member associations to support a World Cup boycott last Thursday, it will continue to push for change.
“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,” the statement read.
“We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.
“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.
“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.”
UEFA went on to criticise Infantino directly, saying he has failed to deliver on pledges he made to be transparent and accountable before he was first elected president in 2016.
The Football Association backed UEFA and in a statement yesterday said: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our European colleagues and fully support the collective view. We oppose FIFA’s plans — the FIFA World Cup belongs to football and always will.”
Infantino had been expected to be re-elected unopposed for a third full term at next March’s FIFA Congress in Rabat, but while he is determined to stay on, the 56-year-old could now face a challenger.
While he has already secured more than 200 letters of support from member associations endorsing his re-election campaign, they can be withdrawn and the deadline for other candidates to announce an intention to stand is not until November 18.
The Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is favoured by many in Europe but appears reluctant to stand and is also chairperson of the powerful lobby group, European Football Clubs. Other potential candidates include Victor Montagliani, the Canadian, who is the president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); and the Asian Football Confederation president, Salman al-Khalifa, who lost narrowly to Infantino in the 2016 FIFA election.
Infantino had claimed that selling 20 percent of a new commercial company — FIFA Forward Enterprise — to private investors would enable them to increase the FIFA Forward payments from US$8 million over the next four-year cycle to US$20 million, as well as a one-off US$20 million bonus for signing up to the scheme.
UEFA’s statement used Infantino’s own words from his initial election campaign 10 years ago against him.
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. I have been this in the last 15 years of my life in UEFA. You will have to play a part every day in the life of FIFA.”
He further told the assembled stakeholders: “The money of FIFA is your money. It’s not the money of the FIFA president. It’s your money. You are the national associations, and the money of FIFA has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else.”
UEFA said: “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. And with reserves standing at over US$5bn, he has also failed to use associations’ money for the benefit of the game.”
UEFA also called for an immediate overhaul of FIFA’s system of financial distribution, the FIFA Forward programme in which all 211 member associations receive the same central payment from FIFA over each four-year cycle.
Infantino had claimed that selling 20 percent of a new commercial company — FIFA Forward Enterprise — to private investors would enable them to increase the FIFA Forward payments from US$8 million over the next four-year cycle to US$20 million, as well as a one-off US$20 million bonus for signing up to the scheme.
Handing out millions of dollars to tiny nations has been widely criticised as a system of patronage designed to keep Infantino in office, while the US$20 million bonus on offer for associations who signed up by a deadline of September 19 was condemned. — theguardian.com
