UEFA says it has lost confidence in current FIFA leadership

What the report says

European football governing body UEFA said it has lost confidence in FIFA’s current leadership after a dispute over a proposal to bring private investors into World Cup and other tournament rights. The comments, reported by Al Jazeera, came after UEFA voted on Thursday to boycott FIFA if the plan was not withdrawn.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino later scrapped the FIFA Future Enterprise plan on Friday, following what Al Jazeera described as widespread backlash. UEFA welcomed that retreat on Saturday, but still sharply criticized FIFA’s handling of the proposal and the way it was developed. The statement accused the organization of pushing ahead with a process that UEFA said lacked transparency and proper consultation.

In its statement, UEFA said the current FIFA leadership had lost the trust not only of UEFA but also of many others in the football community. It also pointed back to Infantino’s earlier promises about openness and using FIFA’s money for the development of the game. FIFA, the global governing body for football, had been considering ways to sell minority stakes in World Cups and other events to private investors, a move that raised concern among European officials.

UEFA said it wants to work with partners on alternatives for distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward Programme.