Two weeks after presiding over the men’s world cup, Fifa president Gianni Infantino is facing the biggest challenge yet to his job that until recently looked untouchable.
Key Factors
Fifa valued FFE at $20 billion and planned to raise $4.2 billion by selling about a 20% stake in it to private investors. Because several confederations and national football associations said they had not been properly consulted, the project drew fierce opposition. At the heart of the storm is a proposal Fifa floated last week and formally scrapped within days. It was called the Fifa Forward Enterprise, or FFE — a new commercial subsidiary that would have taken over the running of the world cups, Club World Cup and other Fifa tournaments, and sold the rights that go with them. UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF were among those to raise concerns about the process, while a number of European associations subsequently withdrew their support for Infantino’s re-election.
Evidence and Data
Reuters reported that five European federations — England (FA), Wales, Serbia, Sweden and Finland — have formally withdrawn earlier letters of support for Infantino’s re-election. Cracks were visible within Fifa’s own Zurich headquarters. Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian federation, has been proposed by Blatter himself.
South America’s CONMEBOL, which is relying on Infantino to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, from 48 currently, has not made a public statement yet.
Denmark’s federation, which didn’t support him earlier too, said it was never going to back him in any case. The Football Association of Wales, which broke first, cited “recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement”. The English FA, in a statement, called for “a full and robust review of Fifa’s leadership and governance”. Sweden’s federation cited “recurring shortcomings in governance, transparency and management”. Chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said last Friday that staff had been “deceived” and described the FFE as “the project of one person”. Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, Fifa’s chief of global football development, said in a separate statement that he was “not involved in this strategic plan” and that “the decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary”. Writing on X, the former Fifa president said “the time is right for a woman to take the lead”.
