Three confederations say leadership in football should be regarded as a duty of service rather than exercise of power
\n KARACHI
\nThe Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Uefa and Concacaf have jointly accused Fifa leadership of a \u201cfundamental breach of trust\u201d over a now-abandoned proposal to sell an interest in the commercial rights to the Fifa World Cup, calling for an independent investigation into how the plan was developed and presented.
\nIn an unusually forceful open letter addressed to the football family, the presidents and general secretaries of the three confederations said the controversy was not primarily about money but about the integrity of the game and the integrity of those elected to lead it.
\nThe letter was signed by AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Concacaf President Victor Montagliani and Uefa President Aleksander \u010ceferin, along with the three confederations\u2019 general secretaries.
\nThe three confederations said leadership in football should be regarded as a duty of service rather than the possession or exercise of power.
\nThey said that when trust is broken through deception, or when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, the responsibility of leadership has been abandoned.
\nThe statement did not name Fifa President Gianni Infantino directly in the text, but its criticism comes after Fifa\u2019s proposal to establish a new commercial entity, Fifa Forward Enterprise, which would have brought together Fifa\u2019s commercial rights and tournament operations.
\nThe confederations said Fifa\u2019s recent communication to its vice-presidents and 211 member associations acknowledged mistakes but characterised the issue as a failure of communication.
\n\u201cWe believe what football witnessed was a failure of judgment,\u201d they said, arguing that the proposal had been advanced on a compressed timeline, without meaningful consultation and towards a deadline before member associations could properly examine its terms. They went further, saying there had been no acknowledgement that the proposal itself was fundamentally wrong.
\nThe attempt to sell an interest in the Fifa World Cup, they said, was \u201ca profound failure of judgment\u201d and not merely a procedural mistake but a fundamental breach of trust with the institutions Fifa exists to serve.
\nThe three confederations have also rejected Fifa\u2019s plan to conduct an internal review of the episode.
\nFifa has committed to presenting a report on the events to the Fifa Council, but the AFC, Uefa and Concacaf said that, given the seriousness of the matter, any review should instead be conducted by a fully independent third party.
\n\u201cThe Fifa administration should play no role in conducting the review,\u201d they said.
\nThey also called for all relevant documents and records to be preserved, referring to Uefa\u2019s previous communication on document preservation.
\nThe confederations also raised concerns about a recent leadership meeting in Morocco.
\nAccording to their letter, Fifa\u2019s own communication confirmed that only one elected official was present at the meeting. No Fifa Council members or member associations were invited, while only a selection of senior Fifa-employed staff from the management committee attended.
\nThe confederations said the decision to summon selected management committee members abroad, rather than having Fifa leadership travel to Zurich, reinforces their concerns and represents a continuation of the conduct that led to the current dispute.
\nFifa had proposed creating Fifa Forward Enterprise, a Fifa-owned and controlled subsidiary that would combine commercial rights and event operations, including broadcasting, sponsorship, licensing, ticketing and tournament delivery.
\nFifa said the initiative was intended to unlock additional commercial value and increase funding available to its 211 member associations for infrastructure, grassroots football and development. Reports stated that Fifa\u2019s plan involved creating a commercial subsidiary valued at around $20 billion and offering external investors a minority stake of up to 20%.
\nThe proposal triggered strong opposition from football\u2019s major confederations and national associations, particularly over governance, consultation and the prospect of private investors obtaining an interest in the commercial rights connected to the World Cup.
\nFifa subsequently abandoned the proposal, but the joint letter from the AFC, Uefa and Concacaf makes clear that the three confederations believe the governance questions surrounding the episode remain unresolved.\u2019
\nThe three confederations stressed that the dispute was not about overturning previous collective decisions.
\nThey said the expansion of tournaments, the awarding of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups and the distribution of resources to member associations were collective achievements involving Fifa, the confederations and national associations.
\nThey also said they were not seeking to revisit decisions on tournament expansion or World Cup allocations.
\nInstead, they called for greater accountability and unity across the sport.
\n\u201cFootball\u2019s strength has always been its unity,\u201d the confederations said, calling for leadership that \u201cserves football, not seeks to command it.\u201d
\nThe joint intervention represents one of the strongest collective challenges to Fifa leadership by the game\u2019s major regional confederations and puts governance, accountability and the limits of Fifa presidential authority at the centre of the dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three confederations say leadership in football should be regarded as a duty of service rather than exercise of power KARACHI The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Uefa and Concacaf have jointly accused Fifa leadership of a \u201cfundamental breach of trust\u201d over a now-abandoned proposal to sell an interest in the commercial rights to the Fifa World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n