Confederations withdraw participation in all FIFA governance bodies as pressure builds on Infantino to resign

August 3 – The AFC, Concacaf and UEFA have formed a pact to force FIFA president Gianni Infantino out of the world governing body by making his position untenable.

The three confederations have pledged that they will not participate in any of FIFA’s governance affairs until Infantino resigns his post. By withholding their participation, the three confederations will effectively paralyse FIFA’s governance processes and ability to operate normally.

Their withdrawal will see their representatives refuse to take part in FIFA Council meetings, standing committee meetings or ratify decisions taken.

Decisions that are taken that aren’t quorate will subsequently be in breach of FIFA’s statutes and leave the decision-makers liable to FIFA Ethics violations that can be pursued either now (unlikely while Infantino controls or in the future. They could also leave the decision-makers liable for criminal prosecution if they involve the distribution of money that has not been pre-authorised.

Insideworldfootball understands that the ultimatum issued to Infantino means that he can resign on his own terms and leave without any future repercussions – something that was not afforded to previous FIFA president Sepp Blatter or former UEFA president who have both accused Infantino of orchestrating civil cases against them and then meddling in their cases via secret meetings with the Swiss Attorney General. Both were cleared by the Swiss courts though it took 10 years.

Infantino is not giving up without a fight even though FIFA’s operations will be brought to a standstill as his broad federation support has evaporated overnight. At the time of writing only 15 national associations had declared support for him to continue in his role.

The move against Infantino is co-ordinated but is not the action of three confederation leaders, but comes with the backing of the vast bulk of their national association membership, more than 140 FAs in total.

One Insideworldfootball source said: “This is not about a power grab but it is a power play by a significant majority of federations who want to protect the institution. That protest is being driven through their confederations and it is one that is prepared to intensify.”

The issue that triggered what had been a growing distrust in Infantino to the point where it has become an overwhelming challenge to his presidency was the proposal to sell off all FIFA’s commercial rights and competition revenues to a private equity vehicle that it would hold shares in.

At a time when FIFA was organising the biggest World Cup ever, Infantino was increasingly alienating himself from his membership as he drew closer to US president Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda. The plan to create FIFA Football Enterprise with a $4.2 billion cash injection from Thrive Capital, a private equity firm led by the brother Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump, was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The confederations argue that after a World Cup that generated more than $15 billion in revenue, FIFA has the money to increase financial distribution to its members who enabled that revenue in the first instance. Essentially, the money is theirs and not FIFA’s, and FIFA or any individual acting unilaterally within it (Infantino), does not have the right to sell the organisation’s commercial revenue streams to outside private equity or businesses.

There has been speculation that if Infantino remains in post the confederations would move towards organising their own competitions. At this stage Insideworldfootball has been told that is premature, but a source said that “even so, nothing is off the table”.

Yesterday UEFA issued formal notice to FIFA that “it is actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints arising out of and in connection with the FFE plan proposed by Fifa and all related matters.”

The UEFA notice is a legal no-spoliation letter (to prevent the destruction of evidence), and requires Infantino and FIFA “to take immediate steps to identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or Fifa’s possession, custody, or control.

“These obligations arise independently of any internal retention policy you or your organisation maintain and supersede any routine document destruction or deletion policies that would otherwise apply.”

The Times reported that the letter also names 14 executives, including Fifa’s head of global football development, Arsène Wenger, who should “specifically preserve all such materials in their possession, custody, or control”, as well as Fifa’s secretary general, Mattias Grafstrom, and Italian lawyer and director of independent committees, Mario Gallavotti.

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