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European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, declared no confidence in FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Saturday after FIFA scrapped a controversial proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors.
UEFA leaders celebrated the collapse of the private equity proposal, but they insisted their battle with Infantino continues, demanding strict accountability for the secret negotiations that nearly surrendered control of international soccer’s premier tournaments.
“The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family,” UEFA said in the statement.
UEFA promised a comprehensive review of the proposal’s origins, warning that it will explore all options to ensure similar schemes do not re-emerge.
“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 said.
The abandoned deal sought to spin off FIFA’s commercial arm and sell a significant share to private investors, dangling massive cash payouts to smaller member nations.
UEFA countered by highlighting that FIFA already holds over $5 billion in cash reserves, arguing that the global body does not need external funding.
We Don’t Need to Sell Off the Family Silver to Pay for It
“We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in FIFA’s bank account to deliver the kick-start that the grassroots and the wider game need in each of the 211 countries of FIFA,” UEFA stated. “But we don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it.”
European leaders also accused Infantino of violating his 2016 campaign promises regarding organisational transparency and equitable financial distribution.
“The shabby, backroom, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent,” the European governing body added.
UEFA now intends to collaborate with international partners to reform resource allocation through the existing FIFA Forward programme, directing additional funds to grassroots soccer while safeguarding institutional control.
Despite defeating the private takeover, Infantino faces severe political isolation as he attempts to retain his leadership.
“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story,” UEFA concluded. “The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.”
