Football Association set to withdraw support for FIFA chief Gianni Infantino’s re-election

London [UK], August 3 (ANI): The Football Association (FA), the governing body of football in England, is set to withdraw their support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, reported Sky Sports.
FA is set to write to Infantino to withdraw a previous letter supporting his re-election to FIFA, in what is a sign of a massive coordinated effort by European Football associations to remove him from the top post in football as soon as possible.
Trouble has been looming over the FIFA presidency of Infantino ever since the announcement of establishing the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) on Tuesday, to bring together the sale of FIFA's commercial rights, right from broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing, with the operational delivery of its tournaments. Under this proposal, FIFA was to raise up to 4.2 billion USD (3.1 billion pounds) via external investors through the sale of minority, non-controlling stakes in FFE.
This move generated a lot of concern and anger from the football fraternity, particularly UEFA, who felt that the sport, particularly its showpiece event, the FIFA World Cup, was being put for sale. UEFA, the governing body of European football, on Thursday also said its member associations have unanimously voted to boycott the FIFA World Cup and all other FIFA competitions in protest against FIFA's plan to sell stakes in a subsidiary that will manage the global governing body's tournaments.
After facing the wrath from various quarters in world football, FIFA went on to drop its plans of establishing FFE. But nonetheless, Infantino continued to face anger from world football, as the Welsh FA became the first football association across the world to withdraw support for his re-election to the top post in the world's football body.
As per Sky Sports, many more letters and announcements are expected to pour in over the next few hours and days to put more pressure on Infantino, who is riding on the success of an expanded, 48-team FIFA World Cup 2026 won by Spain by beating Argentina in the final.
But, Infantino is so far in no mood to resign and has been trying to retain his position by asking associations by Africa, Asia and South America, regions where he still enjoys solid backing to support him. Even if he manages to survive this wave of anger, he is almost set to face a challenger during next year's FIFA presidential election in March in Morocco.
Earlier, the Football Association of Wales told Sky News, "it 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," it added.
"Failing to put the best interests of football first is a failure we cannot accept," the statement concluded.
Notably, UEFA welcomed the FIFA's decision to withdraw the FFE plan and selling stakes in its competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors, while sharply criticising FIFA President Infantino and calling for greater transparency and accountability within world football's governing body.
UEFA also thanked all the fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations that opposed the scheme, alongside the many Prime Ministers, Heads of State and commentators who have demonstrated to the FIFA President that football is not for sale.
"We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account," the release said.
"It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again. That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table. The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," the release said. (ANI)