The English Football Association has sent its letter withdrawing its support for Gianni Infantino’s re-election as Fifa president after his scrapped World Cup privatisation bid.
It comes after Infantino sent a letter apologising for his highly controversial plan, with senior leaders of the world governing body “reaffirm[ing] their full support” of the Swiss-Italian following a crisis meeting on Wednesday.
This letter is said to have changed nothing for the FA who have gone ahead with the retraction of their endorsement, The Independent understands, as has been planned since the beginning of the week.
Wales became the first member association to officially withdraw its support for Infantino on Monday in an attempt to force him out, with the likes of Serbia, Sweden and Finland following suit.
Infantino, whose decade-long reign is under severe pressure, announced last Friday night that he was shelving the widely-denounced plan, which had been rejected by three confederations after first being revealed earlier in the week.
Concacaf, the confederation for North America and the Caribbean, along with the Asian Football Confederation, fumed over the lack of consultation while Europe’s governing body Uefa threatened to boycott all Fifa competitions, including next year’s Women’s World Cup and the 2030 World Cup, unless the plan was scrapped.
Uefa confirmed that it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership after he went back on his plans, criticising the “shabby, backroom deal”, and has now doubled down on its boycott intention after Fifa gave its backing for Infantino to stay on as president.
The letter released by Fifa has also resulted in further heavy criticism from global players union FifPro and South American confederation Conmebol, who had so far supported Infantino.
Prime minister Andy Burnham said that Infantino is the “wrong man” to lead Fifa, while the FA called for a “full and robust review” into his leadership as the fallout of his U-turn continues.
Infantino also became the subject of criticism from within his administration, with senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigning over the plans, while Fifa chief operating officer Kevin Lamour claimed the president had “deceived” Fifa staff.
The proposal involved establishing Fifa Forward Enterprise and selling a 20 per cent stake to private investors, with Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Eternal reportedly earmarked as the lead investor group. He is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of US president Donald Trump.
Trump, however, insisted he had not spoken about the sell-off plan with Infantino before it was scrapped.
There are calls for Infantino to resign, but as it stands he will run for re-election in March 2027.
