Uefa Pulls Confidence From Infantino as Fifa Scraps Plan
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- Uefa issued a statement saying it had 'lost confidence' in Infantino's leadership, using words like 'shabby' and 'secret schemes' in one of the most ferocious rebukes ever aimed at the FIFA president
- Fifa confirmed its proposed private-investment partnership was being withdrawn on Saturday, two days longer than the ill-fated European Super League lasted in 2021
- Infantino's plan would have offered countries an additional $40m (£29.67m) for football development initiatives if they signed up by 19 September, despite FIFA sitting on reserves of more than $2bn (£1.48bn) and expecting record revenues near $15bn (£11.13bn) from the World Cup
- Fifa COO Kevin Lamour publicly called the plans 'the project of one person' and said the organisation's administration had been 'deceived', adding he was prepared to lose his job for speaking out
- President Trump distanced himself from Infantino when asked on Friday, saying he had not spoken to the FIFA president about the proposals, despite their close public ties
- Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared, founded Thrive Eternal — the venture capital firm set to lead the investor group — prompting a New York Post source to call the episode a 'brand nightmare'
- Uefa vice-president Laura McAllister said all confederations were 'considering options' and suggested support for Infantino's re-election in March was receding
Why it matters: FIFA is a not-for-profit sitting on over $2bn in reserves while heading toward record $15bn World Cup revenues — so the closed-door private-investment push was a governance crisis as much as a financial one. With Uefa's no-confidence statement, a public rebuke from FIFA's own COO, and Trump's distancing, Infantino now faces a recking-out-of-reelection fight ahead of March, and a not-for-profit's transparency failure is now a documented, on-the-record internal revolt.
