UEFA, Concacaf and AFC maintain pressure on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to resign

UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) remain steadfast in their position that Gianni Infantino should resign as FIFA president.

On Monday morning, UEFA, the European confederation, Concacaf, the confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean, and the AFC joined together to release an open letter, critical of Infantino and signed by the president and general secretary from each organisation.

This comes after FIFA, world football’s governing body, released a statement on Saturday that hit out at what it described as a “concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine” Infantino and the organisation.

The failed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan, which has heaped immense pressure on Infantino, would have seen FIFA make stakes in its commercial and event operations, including the World Cups and Club World Cups, available for private investment.

Following a crisis meeting of select members of FIFA’s management in Morocco on Wednesday, Infantino, who apologised with Mattias Grafstrom, FIFA’s secretary general, for the FFE proposal, received the “full support” from his senior leadership team.

The open letter from UEFA, Concacaf and AFC read: “This recent meeting, where a select number of members of the FIFA Management Committee — not the full Committee — were summoned abroad, rather than leadership going to Zurich to address the heart of FIFA, its staff, only reinforces these concerns and represents a continuation of the very pattern of conduct that brought us to this moment.

“It is not the conduct of a custodian of the game, but of one who believes the game is answerable to him. There is silence where there should be accountability, distance where there should be openness.

“These 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.”

Last week, UEFA doubled down on its threat of European member associations boycotting future men’s and women’s World Cups.

“UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency,” a UEFA spokesperson said on August 6. “That position holds.

“Yesterday’s announcement that some people employed by the FIFA President (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing.”

A source with knowledge of the confederations’ thinking, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, has said that, despite Infantino’s public statements and apology, they have now embarked on early conversations around developing a new tournament.

Following the meeting in Morocco, FIFA added that “a review will now be conducted, and a report will be presented to the FIFA council at its next scheduled meeting”.

However, UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC have made clear that they do trust FIFA to oversee this review, and have instead called for it to be carried out by an independent party.

“FIFA has also committed to presenting a full report on these events to the FIFA Council, once again failing to recognize that proper governance in the face of such a profound lack of judgment would require that such a review be conducted by a fully independent third party, not by FIFA itself, its staff, or by any stakeholder within football,” their letter added.

“The FIFA administration should play no role in conducting the review.”

FIFA has been approached for comment.

Although UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC have outlined their position on Infantino, their view is not shared throughout the game.

Infantino has received support from individual member associations, including the Argentine Football Association and the Mexican Football Federation (MFF).

The MFF’s endorsement of Infantino comes at the same time as their confederation, Concacaf, has called for the 56-year-old to go.

And in a statement on Thursday, the African Football Confederation (CAF) said that it “unanimously reconfirmed its support” and that it was committed to continuing to work together with FIFA.

Also on Thursday, CONMEBOL, the confederation for South and Central America, spoke of “its concern about the repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue or the institutional mechanisms” in a statement and called for “unity of the football family” before FIFA’s presidential elections, which are set to take place in March.