The European Football Association (UEFA) today released a statement saying it had “lost confidence“ in Gianni Infantino after his failed proposal for a FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). They congratulated the FIFA leader for abandoning the idea, but assured that this was only the beginning and “they want to restore trust and make the relationship transparent“.
The reaction and the full letter can be seen on the official UEFA website. It also shows that the headquarters strongly criticizes Infantino's plans and thanks “fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations, who opposed the scheme“.
FIFA President Infantino had planned to sell shares in football's governing body's competitions to private investors but abandoned the idea in the early hours of Saturday morning amid widespread outrage and strong reactions from around the world.
The continental headquarters CONCACAF (for North, Central America and the Caribbean) and the Asian AFC, led by UEFA, were categorically against the project.
European football's governing body has warned that member countries will boycott future FIFA tournaments if the plan goes ahead.
The website talksport.com claims that the Swiss has suffered a painful blow from his inner circle of supporters and advisers after his senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned on Friday, publishing a strongly worded statement opposing the plans of FFE. Some media even claim a telephone scandal between the two.
But it is clear that Aleksander Ceferin and his team do not intend to stop there and will fight for change until the end. The European football organization also stated that “the current FIFA leadership has lost not only the trust of UEFA, but also that of many other members of the football family“.
“It is right that UEFA works with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations in the coming days and weeks to reflect on how this happened and to develop a plan to ensure that this does not happen again. This review must be thorough and fundamental. No option should be excluded. The current FIFA leadership has not only lost the trust of UEFA, but also of many other members of the football family“.
UEFA also criticized him for failing in two of the most important promises he made after taking office to the presidency from his predecessor Sepp Blatter, who was forced to step down. In 2016, when he was elected, he said that he would "guarantee transparency in the work" and that "FIFA money would be available for distribution among countries and confederations in a way that would be determined by the countries themselves and the participants in the process."
“He failed to deliver on both promises. The unfortunate, behind-the-scenes, opaque deal that he made and tried to push through was anything but transparent.
And with reserves amounting to more than $5 billion, he also failed to use the associations' money for the benefit of the game,“ UEFA also said.
Finally, the European association promised to immediately start working with partners and stakeholders around the world and across football to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA program Forward. The program in question is one of the most important sources of funding for many football headquarters around the world, including the BFU.
“This is a victory for the entire sport. But this should not be the end of the story. The proposal has been rejected. The task of restoring trust in FIFA is only just beginning“, the letter concludes.