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The European confederation welcomed FIFA’s decision to abandon the proposal but used the moment to level sharp criticism at the current leadership, according to its detailed statement. UEFA had voted unanimously days earlier to boycott all FIFA events including World Cups if the investment scheme advanced, the Associated Press reported. That stance won support from Concacaf, which rejected the plan outright, and the Asian Football Confederation, which expressed solidarity. The episode has left Infantino under significant pressure ahead of the FIFA Congress where he seeks a fourth term.
UEFA’s statement quoted directly from Gianni Infantino’s 2016 campaign pledges to member associations. “When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of Fifa’s member associations to elect him as their president in 2016, he said: ‘Of course we have to be transparent,'” it read. The confederation added that Infantino had told stakeholders “the money of Fifa is your money. It’s not the money of the Fifa president” and must serve football development. On both counts, UEFA concluded, the leadership had failed to deliver.
FIFA’s official revised budget for the 2023-2026 cycle projected total revenue of $13 billion including income tied to the 2026 World Cup, according to documents on its website. A Guardian report from mid-July indicated FIFA would announce record revenues of $15 billion from this summer’s expanded 48-team tournament, surpassing the original $11 billion target. FIFA data places the 2022 Qatar World Cup revenue at roughly $7.5 billion, demonstrating steady growth that nevertheless failed to quell concerns over further monetisation methods.
Tensions between the two bodies stretch back years, a pattern documented across multiple outlets. The Guardian traced friction to Infantino’s 2018 proposal for an expanded Club World Cup that eventually launched in 2025 and prompted further debate over a potential rise to 48 teams in 2029. UEFA has repeatedly criticised calendar congestion and unilateral decision-making, a Facebook post from CGTN Sports Scene noted. European delegates walked out of the FIFA Congress in May 2025 in protest at Infantino’s absence while he attended a regional summit, the same report added.
The scrapped investment plan, first reported earlier in the week, envisioned a new subsidiary open to minority stakes from external partners including Thrive Eternal, according to the BBC. A related JP Morgan document projected payouts to member associations could reach 24 million euros each in the 2035-2039 cycle while describing FIFA as under-monetised relative to the World Cup’s global audience. FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the administration had been deceived about the project while senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned, describing it as a bad deal that would mortgage football’s future.
UEFA pledged to develop safeguards in cooperation with its 55 member associations and other confederations to prevent recurrence of such initiatives. The statement proposed directing idle funds from FIFA accounts into the existing Forward programme to support grassroots football instead of pursuing asset sales. “We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in Fifa’s bank account to deliver the kickstart that the grassroots and the wider game need,” it continued. The confederation framed the withdrawal as a victory yet stressed that rebuilding trust remained an urgent unfinished task.
Opposition spanned three of FIFA’s six continental bodies, with the United Kingdom’s prime minister among public critics who labelled Infantino the wrong man for the role, Al Jazeera reported. The current standoff echoes UEFA’s successful 2021 threat to boycott a proposed biennial World Cup, according to the Associated Press. Infantino, who served as UEFA’s general secretary before his 2016 FIFA election, now faces a landscape where key stakeholders question the transparency of major financial decisions.
