English FA and Wales turn back on Infantino after World Cup controversy | Football | Sport

England and Wales have become the first nations to publicly withdraw their support for FIFA boss Gianni Infantino. The Swiss Italian is under growing pressure after his failed plan to sell stakes in FIFA competitions to private investment firms.

Infantino’s lucrative plan sparked global outrage, with European football’s governing body UEFA threatening to boycott all FIFA events, including the World Cup. CONCACAF also joined in with the criticism, but stopped short of a boycott. The federation which oversees football in North, Central America and the Caribbean did however join UEFA in releasing statements on Saturday criticising the leadership of the world governing body following Infantino’s decision to withdraw the plan.

And the English Football Association (FA) and Football Association of Wales (FAW) have now confirmed they have withdrawn support for Infantino as he seeks re-election as president of FIFA for the 2027-2031 term.

A FAW statement read: “The Football Association of Wales hereby confirms its withdrawal of support for the candidature of Mr Gianni Infantino, for re-election as Fifa president for the 2027–2031 term.

“The recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement have led us to a position where Mr Infantino has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the helm of world football. Failing to put the best interests of football first is a failure we cannot accept.”

Wales were the first nation to withdraw their support and it has now been claimed by The Times that the English FA will withdraw a previous letter backing Infantino to remain as president.

UEFA have been particularly scathing of Infantino since he revealed his controversial plans and stressed that confidence in the 56-year-old has now evaporated.

“The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family,” UEFA’s statement read.

“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’.

“He told the assembled stakeholders, ‘The money of FIFA is your money. It’s not the money of the FIFA president. You are the national associations and the money of FIFA has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else’.

“On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent.”

Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has also welcomed FIFA’s decision to abandon plans to sell a stake in ‌the World Cup.

“Any initiative ‌that has the potential to impact global football will be presented and discussed with the confederations, the FIFA council, member associations and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent and meaningful manner,” he wrote on the AFC website.

“The future of global football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our game.”

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham added his condemnation of the plans by calling for “FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance”.