U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has doubled down on his call for change at the top of FIFA, insisting football cannot “move on and forget” Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
Infantino was forced into a backdown on Friday over his controversial plans to sell World Cup profits through a commercial subsidiary that would run its top competitions.
But on Saturday, European football’s governing body UEFA said it had lost confidence in FIFA’s leadership — possibly paving the way for a challenge to Infantino’s presidency. The governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean football (Concacaf) said, meanwhile, that FIFA leadership had “stopped putting football first.”
Burnham — who became the first leader of a major country to call on Infantino to resign shortly before FIFA called off the controversial World Cup plans — reiterated his view during a trip to Devon on Sunday.
“I do not believe that he is the right man to lead football forward on the world stage,” Burnham said.
“The plan that was put forward was offensive to many people, football people, around the world, and it can’t be the case that we just move on and forget that, it wasn’t acceptable.”
Infantino’s plans fell apart after UEFA’s 55-member nations agreed Thursday to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions. Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation also said they opposed the plan.
Despite Infantino’s climbdown, UEFA said it would work with other confederations to “devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again.”
“No option should be off the table,” it said.
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While Infantino has received pockets of public support from associations including 2022 World Cup host Qatar, Burnham’s words are further evidence of the anger generated by his plans.
The next FIFA presidential election is in March in Rabat, Morocco. The deadline for candidates to enter the presidential contest is Nov. 18, exactly four months ahead of the vote.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
