FOOTBALL – FIFA’S bid to move past the biggest internal crisis of Gianni Infantino’s presidency is unlikely to end scrutiny of how world soccer is governed, with Uefa saying yesterday that it remained committed to boycotting the World Cup as more countries withdrew support for his candidacy.
A day after Fifa’s leadership gathered in Rabat to publicly reaffirm support for Infantino, world soccer’s governing body apologised to its 211 members for mistakes around the abandoned proposal to sell a slice of the World Cup’s commercial future.
Fifa also pledged to review the processes that led to the controversy which sparked the fiercest revolt of Infantino’s tenure after national federations complained they had been sidelined.
European soccer’s governing body Uefa stressed that its key conditions for a return to Fifa competitions had not been met.
“First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again,” Uefa said in a statement.
“These conditions have not been met. In addition, Uefa made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency. That position holds.”
Uefa added that Fifa employees “whose careers depend on his favour” agreeing with Infantino did not alter its position.
Uefa did not say if teams would boycott Fifa’s next event – the women’s Under-20 World Cup in Poland next month.
A review will be conducted before a report is presented to the Council at its next meeting and the conciliatory tone marked a stark contrast with the increasingly public criticism that forced Fifa into retreat.
However, Fifa can no longer dodge questions raised by confederations, leagues and national associations over how major strategic decisions are made.
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