UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC Slam FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Damning Open Letter

Three regional football governing bodies – UEFA (Europe), CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) and the AFC (Asia) – believe that FIFA president Gianni Infantino's recent plan to sell an interest in the World Cup was a “fundamental breach of trust” with the institutions the body was designed to serve.

In an “open letter to the football family” revealed on Monday, UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC also said that “when trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.”

The damning letter was co-signed by UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin, AFC president Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani and the three general secretaries of the organisations.

“Football is the world’s greatest shared passion. It belongs to no individual and no institution. It belongs to the players, the fans, the clubs, the member associations and every institution entrusted with safeguarding its future,” the open letter said.

“It is in that spirit, as confederations representing its members, that we speak collectively today.”

Infantino is facing a revolt after his failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors.

“It is not the conduct of a custodian of the game, but of one who believes the game is answerable to him,” the letter said.

“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.”

UEFA previously threatened to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions despite the governing body abandoning and apologising for its failed plan.

Many individual member football associations within the European governing body have called for Infantino to resign, among them, Norway.

The letter critical of the Swiss-Italian football executive does not reference Infantino by name, but slams his so-called apology, which failed to acknowledge that the idea to sell off the World Cup is innately wrong, but instead attributes the mistakes to miscommunication.

“It treats this as a failure of communication, when what football witnessed was a failure of judgment,” the letter said.

“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.”

In a statement on Saturday, FIFA defended Infantino against what it called a “concerted and ongoing effort” to undermine his leadership of the organisation.

It came after reports emerged that a UEFA female staffer under Infantino during his tenure as general secretary of UEFA was given a six-figure “departure payment”, due to apparent misconduct.

UK media outlets claimed the FIFA chief was engaged in an affair, allegations Infantino refuted.

UEFA confirmed that a “departure payment” was made to the employee and said it was “in line” with regulations at the time, but stressed that those regulations have since been “tightened”.

Infantino worked at UEFA for 16 years before being elected FIFA president.