UEFA says FIFA leadership has lost confidence of football world

UEFA said on Saturday that FIFA's current leadership has lost the confidence of the broader football community, welcoming the world governing body's decision to abandon controversial plans to sell a stake in its competitions — including the FIFA World Cup — to private investors.

Broken trust and secret schemes

"The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," European football's governing body said in a statement released Saturday. The proposal had been "unanimously rejected" by UEFA's member associations as well as by numerous other federations and confederations worldwide.

UEFA criticized the process behind the plan, stating that football "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." The organization added that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had failed to deliver on commitments made during his 2016 election campaign, including promises of transparency and using FIFA's financial resources for development.

"Football is not for sale"

The European body thanked fans, leagues, clubs, players, national associations and confederations, as well as political leaders, for opposing the proposal and showing Infantino that "football is not for sale." UEFA described FIFA's reversal as "a victory for the whole game," adding: "The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun."

No option off the table

UEFA said it would begin working "in the coming days and weeks" with its member associations and other football confederations to examine how the proposal emerged and devise measures to prevent recurrence. "That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table," the organization stated.