New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS) The English Football Association (FA) is set to withdraw its support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, deepening the crisis surrounding the governing body’s abandoned plan to sell minority stakes in its competitions to private investors.
This development occurs because UEFA has threatened to take legal action in response to the controversial proposal, and the Football Association of Wales has already officially withdrawn its support for Infantino’s re-election bid as FIFA president.
Infantino’s position has recently come in for greater criticism since FIFA has suggested setting up a commercial subsidiary, the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), in order to handle its main events, including the FIFA World Cup, and at the same time have outside investors buy minor, non-controlling shares.
As reported by The Telegraph, UEFA has issued a legal notice to Infantino, informing him that it is currently considering taking legal action, bringing an arbitration case, and filing regulatory complaints regarding the FFE proposal.
The European governing body has also told FIFA to keep all relevant documents, such as emails, WhatsApp messages, meeting notes and any other communications connected with the investment plan.
The situation worsened when it was revealed that Infantino had written to the 211 member associations of FIFA committing to provide as much as $40 million in funding for the ones in favour of the proposal, including an initial payment of $20 million which was due by the deadline of 19 September.
The American venture capital firm Thrive Eternal, which was founded by Joshua Kushner, was expected to head the proposed group of investors before FIFA gave up on the plan due to increasing opposition.
Mark Palios, who used to be the chief executive of the English FA, referred to UEFA’s threat of taking legal action as “a very clear call for action” regarding what he described as “an abysmal governance process”.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, he stated that football required greater accountability and called for a change in FIFA’s leadership to avoid similar scandals in the future.
Even though the opposition is still growing throughout Europe, Infantino still has the support of a number of member associations, such as Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Sri Lanka. Although the Asian Football Confederation has shown its solidarity with UEFA and Concacaf, the African, South American and Oceanian confederations have up to now refrained from publicly criticising the FIFA president.
If Infantino is to stay in office until March, he will be eligible to run for a fourth and final term as FIFA president, which will require 106 votes from the 211 member associations for re-election.
UEFA is also considering the option of forcing an emergency meeting of the FIFA Council, a move which would need the support of 19 of the organisation’s 37 members. Should such a meeting take place, it could in principle call for Infantino to resign, even though it is acknowledged that support from outside Europe and Concacaf will be necessary if the challenge is to succeed.
–IANS
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