AFC president doubles down on FIFA, calling World Cup plan ‘unacceptable’

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, reported that Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has sharply criticized FIFA’s proposal to sell stakes in a new commercial entity tied to the World Cup and other FIFA events. In a letter sent Thursday to the AFC’s 47 member associations, Sheikh Salman said the confederation had not been consulted before FIFA publicly announced the plan and called that lack of engagement “totally unacceptable.”

According to the report, FIFA said Tuesday it wants to establish a $20bn commercial subsidiary to oversee the World Cup and other competitions. The proposal has drawn objections from regional confederations, including the AFC, which said it was caught off guard. Sheikh Salman, who is also a FIFA senior vice president, said the AFC had not received detailed legal, financial or governance analysis and warned that unilateral action could weaken football’s continental system of solidarity and cooperation.

The AFC, based in Kuala Lumpur, is one of FIFA’s six regional confederations and oversees competitions across Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Sheikh Salman told member associations that such a major proposal should be reviewed through proper governance channels and said it would not succeed without confederation support. He also questioned the speed of the process, after FIFA President Gianni Infantino reportedly told national associations they would each receive $40m if they approved the proposal by September 19.

Sheikh Salman urged AFC members not to take a position until further discussions with FIFA and internal reviews are completed. Al Jazeera said it had asked FIFA for a response to the AFC letter.