Pressure is mounting on FIFA president Gianni Infantino after his senior adviser resigned over plans to sell a stake in a World Cup company to private investors.
Infantino's plan has been rejected by the European and Asian confederations, as well as the one representing nations from North and Central America and the Caribbean. European nations have said they will not play in FIFA competitions until the project is scrapped.
Now Carlos Cordeiro has quit his role as an adviser to Infantino, describing the plans to create FIFA Forward Enterprise as a "bad deal for football".
"Football has been central to my life and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away. That is why this proposal should be rejected," he said in a statement.
Cordeiro's resignation came hours after FIFA's controversial plan was dealt a major blow when the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) joined UEFA and CONCACAF in rejecting it.
FIFA's chief operating officer has also come out strongly against the seemingly doomed scheme and its chief architect.
In a statement to The Associated Press Frenchman Kevin Lamour said staff were "deceived" by Infantino's lack of transparency and his colleagues "deserve better than contempt and intimidation".
"It is the project of one person," Lamour wrote. "Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions."
Lamour stopped short of resigning but acknowledged his forthrightness may result in him losing his job.
The AFC statement highlighted "fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed".
It's understood the 41 nations that make up CONCACAF, the confederation for North and Central America plus the Caribbean, are losing – or have lost – confidence in Infantino, while UEFA says it will boycott FIFA competitions until the plan is dropped.
The Swiss said the plans to create a new company to run the World Cup and FIFA’s other competitions would require a majority of FIFA’s 211 member associations. Collective opposition from AFC’s 47 members, added to CONCACAF’s 41 and UEFA’s 55, would mean 143 now stand against it.
AFC's statement, as UEFA’s did, highlighted the fact that until media reports emerged on Tuesday, associations were unaware of the plans.
"The AFC stands in solidarity with UEFA and CONCACAF in expressing serious concerns over FIFA’s proposal to introduce private investment into FIFA’s flagship competitions and the decision-making process around FFE," it read.
"The fact that the situation has reached the point where the real possibility of a FIFA World Cup boycott has entered public discourse should concern everyone who cares about the future of our game. Football should never have been placed in such a position."
FIFA had earlier said it would move forward with its consultation process to bring private investment into the World Cup and its other tournaments in defiance of a fierce UEFA-led backlash against the proposal.
The world soccer governing body announced it planned to create a $20 billion (€17 billion) subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events, offering external investors stakes of up to 20%.
Under the plan, FIFA would establish FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to oversee commercial and event operations.
The proposal drew strong criticism from regional confederations, which said they had been blindsided by the plan to bring private investors into the sport.
European soccer's governing body UEFA, which accused FIFA of putting the sport's "soul" up for sale, yesterday voted to boycott all FIFA tournaments, along with its 55 member nations.
"Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain," FIFA said.
"Everyone has the right to express their opposition and to seek further clarification but no single entity can claim to represent all 211 MAs around the world.
"Each MA should be allowed to review the proposal and have a say in shaping their own future. These are the democratic principles of FIFA," it added.
FIFA president Infantino has publicly backed the plan, with an investor group led by Thrive Eternal, founded by Joshua Kushner - the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner - waiting in the wings to secure a minority stake in the new venture.
However, promises of huge returns to national associations if FFE goes ahead could surely not be honoured if the men’s and women’s World Cups took place without European involvement, even if Infantino could still muster majority support for FFE.
Any European boycott would first impact the Women’s Under-20 World Cup, due to be staged in Poland in September. The Polish Football Association (PZPN) said on Friday it has not received any information about teams withdrawing from the tournament and preparations are continuing as planned.
The big FIFA event on the longer-term horizon though is the senior Women’s World Cup in Brazil next summer, with qualifiers due to take place in the autumn. The Republic of Ireland are scheduled to face Kazakhstan in the first round of the play-offs, and then either Belgium or Poland in the final if they were to win.
On Thursday, the FAI issued a statement in which they affirmed their support for UEFA and confirmed that no Irish teams will compete in FIFA competitions until there's a resolution.
Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness said FIFA's proposal has provoked a "very serious situation" for the game.
Klaveness praised the strong pushback against the proposals, which critics have labelled anti-democratic and driven by external financial interests.
"Everyone who spoke said it was unacceptable," she told reporters after UEFA member associations raised objections in a meeting.
"The word 'blackmail' was used. Not by us, but by others. Bringing external owners into football’s core business is an alien element, and it should remain an alien element."
Klaveness said of FIFA President Gianni Infantino: "My clear impression now is that he has lost a great deal of trust.
"We did not vote for him last time, and we have been sceptical about this. There is a lot that is good about FIFA but if you take a casual approach to governance principles and rules, you quickly lose trust."
Non-profit fan network Football Supporters Europe (FSE) has also opposed FIFA's proposal and called for reform in the body.
Stuart Dykes, FSE's director of European and Institutional Affairs, said the fans were outraged by FIFA's proposal.
"Football is not for sale. It's a social good. Its value is created by the fans and the players and everyone else who go to make it such, you know, go to create that value in the first place," said Dykes.
"And that value is not for FIFA to extract in the interest of private investors."
Additional reporting: Reuters
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Source: RTE
