UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have accused FIFA of a “fundamental breach of trust” and “deception” over its handling of plans to sell a stake in the World Cup, saying that the episode raises serious questions about the integrity of football’s leadership.
In a joint statement, the three confederations took aim at FIFA president Gianni Infantino, saying the process represented a “profound failure of judgment” and accusing him of acting like someone who “believes the game is answerable to him.”
“This is about something more fundamental: the integrity of the game, and the integrity of those elected to lead it,” an open letter released on Monday reads.
“Leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about holding – or demanding – power to be held. It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it.
“When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.”
“FIFA’s recent letter to its Vice-Presidents and 211 Member Associations acknowledges that mistakes were made in the process. It treats this as a failure of communication, when what football witnessed was a failure of judgment. A proposal advanced on a compressed timeline, without meaningful consultation, and pushed toward a deadline before Member Associations could properly review its terms is not the product of an oversight – it is the product of a design intended to limit scrutiny. It did not acknowledge that the proposal itself was inherently wrong.
“There remains no recognition that attempting to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup was a profound failure of judgment – not just a procedural misstep, but a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions FIFA exists to serve. FIFA has also committed to presenting a full report on these events to the FIFA Council, once again failing to recognize that proper governance in the face of such a profound lack of judgment would require that such a review be conducted by a fully independent third party, not by FIFA itself, its staff, or by any stakeholder within football.
“The FIFA administration should play no role in conducting the review. As per previous correspondence, all relevant documents and records must be preserved in accordance with UEFA’s communication on preservation of documents. FIFA’s own letter also confirms that only one elected official was present at the leadership meeting in Morocco. No FIFA Council members or Member Associations were invited to participate. Only the management committee, composed of FIFA-employed senior staff, was present.
“This recent meeting, where a select number of members of the FIFA Management Committee-not the full Committee-were summoned abroad, rather than leadership going to Zurich to address the heart of FIFA, its staff, only reinforces these concerns and represents a continuation of the very pattern of conduct that brought us to this moment.
“It is not the conduct of a custodian of the game, but of one who believes the game is answerable to him. There is silence where there should be accountability, distance where there should be openness. These are not the qualities football deserves in its leadership. That is why we have taken this stance: not lightly and not alone, but together, and out of duty to the game we serve. Football’s strength has always been its unity. We call for that unity to be honoured now, for leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it.”
