Infantino will hope that Africa and South America can keep him in office
Uefa, Europe’s football governing body, says it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa, after an ill-fated plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup.
So what? Infantino is now clinging on to a job that he might have thought was more secure than ever. Just a few days ago, buoyed by a commercially successful tournament, Infantino took the moral high-ground in an open letter which accused Fifa’s critics of “spreading hate”. But he has since announced and then scrapped a proposal to open up the World Cup to private investors,
How it started. At 4pm on Tuesday, Fifa confirmed reports that they wanted to create a commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including its World Cup competitions. The plan would have allowed external investors to buy minority, non-controlling stakes in Fifa tournaments, including the men’s and women’s World Cups as well as the Club World Cup.
How it would have worked. The subsidiary would have opened 20% of Fifa’s ownership to private investors, with 80% in the hands of Fifa. The valuation of the new commercial subsidiary was $20bn. Infantino wrote to Fifa’s 211 member associations saying that they would receive $40m if they voted for the proposal. He gave them 53 days to consider the offer.
Not so fast. On Thursday, Uefa announced that it would boycott future World Cups if the plan came to fruition. Concacaf, the North American federation, also rejected the proposal but stopped short of promising a boycott. The next morning, the Asian Football Confederation also expressed concerns and accused Fifa of “undermining the very foundations of football”.
Cost. Selling one of sport’s golden assets to private investors would have probably increased prices for matchday tickets, which were already at an all-time high in this summer’s World Cup.
Transparency. The plan was concocted by Infantino and a small number of advisers behind the backs of other senior Fifa executives.
Nothing to do with me. On Friday, Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Infantino, resigned and called the proposal a “bad deal for Fifa’s Member Associations, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game”. He said that he had no involvement.
Or us. Five hours later, Kevin Lamour, Fifa’s chief operating officer, claimed the plan was the “project of one person”. He did not name Infantino but said that the time had now come for “football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decision”.
The right decision. At 12.30am on Saturday, the plan was dead. A statement was released, which was “attributable to the Fifa President”. It said that the proposal had created divisions that meant it was “no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place”.
Turning the screw. Infantino is not out of the woods. On Saturday, Uefa said it had lost confidence in him and described the proposal as a “shabby, back-room, opaque deal”.
High press. The Guardian reported on Sunday that efforts to call an extraordinary general meeting over Fifa’s management of the World Cup were already in motion before Infantino’s abortive plan was announced. Rebels are likely to feel like this is their best opportunity to strike.
And yet… The Confederation of African Football and the South American Conmebol still support Infantino. Several would-be successors wait in the wings, but Infantino may survive.Photograph by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Fifa via Getty Images