The Football Association is preparing to formally withdraw its support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, adding fresh pressure on the embattled football chief after the collapse of his controversial proposal to open FIFA competitions to private investment.
The move follows UEFA’s threat of legal action against FIFA and the Welsh FA’s decision to publicly withdraw its backing for Infantino’s future leadership. Football authorities across Europe, alongside Concacaf, have already questioned his leadership after rejecting the investment strategy.
Infantino’s proposal centred on creating a new commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would manage the governing body’s flagship competitions, including the FIFA World Cup. Under the plan, outside investors would have been allowed to purchase minority, non-controlling stakes in the business.
FIFA confirmed it intended to invite external investors into FFE, but the proposal was abandoned after widespread opposition from member associations and football confederations.
UEFA has now significantly intensified the dispute. In a formal letter first reported by The Telegraph, European football’s governing body informed Infantino that it is actively considering legal proceedings, arbitration and regulatory complaints linked to the FFE project.
The organisation also demanded that FIFA immediately preserve all documents connected to the proposal, regardless of existing document retention policies. UEFA requested that no records be destroyed or deleted while the dispute remains unresolved.
Its request covers emails, text messages, WhatsApp conversations, Signal, Microsoft Teams, Slack communications, meeting notes, written correspondence and any other relevant records involving FIFA officials, employees, committee members, consultants, agents, member associations, broadcasters, sponsors or financial institutions.
UEFA also specifically requested documents relating to FIFA’s financial offer to member associations. Infantino had written to all 211 national associations promising payments of $40 million (£30 million) if they supported the proposal, with an initial $20 million (£15 million) available before a 19 September deadline.
European officials are seeking records detailing how those payments were designed, approved, modelled and communicated to member associations. UEFA has instructed Infantino to confirm within five business days that he has received the notice and taken immediate steps to preserve all relevant material.
The proposed investor consortium was expected to be led by Thrive Eternal, an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.
Despite mounting criticism, Infantino continues to retain backing from several national associations. Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Sri Lanka have publicly pledged their support for his continued leadership.
If he remains in office until March, Infantino would be eligible to seek a fourth and final term as FIFA president. Victory would require support from at least 106 of FIFA’s 211 member associations.
Voting strength remains divided across the confederations, with UEFA holding 55 votes, the African confederation 54, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 46, Concacaf 35, Oceania 11 and CONMEBOL 10.
While the AFC has declared its solidarity with UEFA and Concacaf over the investment controversy, Africa, CONMEBOL and Oceania have not publicly opposed the abandoned plan.
Attention is also turning to the FIFA Council, where opponents could attempt to force an emergency meeting. Such a meeting would require requests from at least 19 of the council’s 37 members and would have to be held within two weeks.
The council consists of nine UEFA representatives, seven from the AFC, five from Concacaf, six from Africa, five from CONMEBOL, three from Oceania, along with Infantino and FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström.
Although the withdrawal of support by national associations adds further political pressure, the main challenge to Infantino is still being led by Europe. UEFA’s legal threat and demand to preserve evidence represent a major escalation in its confrontation with FIFA.
Whether the growing opposition is enough to persuade Infantino to resign remains unclear. If he refuses to step aside, UEFA’s immediate objective is likely to secure the 19 council votes needed to trigger an emergency session where his leadership could formally be challenged.
Officials are not expected to submit such a motion until they are confident they have sufficient backing. While Europe and Concacaf have united against the FFE proposal, they do not currently command enough support on their own to remove Infantino. Efforts are therefore continuing behind the scenes to persuade additional member associations from other confederations to join the campaign against the FIFA president.