European teams could still boycott competitions including the World Cup after Uefa said Fifa's defence of president Gianni Infantino "changes nothing". The English FA has sent a letter withdrawing its support for Infantino following the abandonment of a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, and Fifa has since accused critics of running a "concerted and ongoing effort" to undermine the organisation and its president.
Uefa said in a statement that its conditions for restoring confidence in Infantino had not been met, despite the plan being scrapped.
"First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly," Uefa's statement said. "Assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.
"These conditions have not been met."
Uefa has already said it has lost confidence in Infantino, calling the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal a "shabby, back room, opaque deal". European football's governing body previously threatened legal action over the investment plan after it emerged, and the pressure on Infantino has been building since a wave of backlash from Uefa, Concacaf and other confederations in late July and early August.
What did Fifa say about the controversy?
Infantino apologised following a Fifa executive meeting in Morocco on Wednesday, and Fifa said the "mistakes" regarding FFE were "acknowledged".
The world governing body said it was "not the intention" for the Fifa Council and member associations to "feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently".
"Uefa made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino's presidency. That position holds.
"Yesterday's announcement that some people employed by the Fifa president (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing."
Infantino had offered all associations $40m (£30m) if they backed a proposal for private investment in its tournaments, including the men's and women's World Cups, through the FFE subsidiary. The original plan reportedly sought to raise as much as $4.2bn (£3.3bn) through the new commercial-rights body, according to Reuters, a figure roughly in line with the £3.1bn scheme detailed in an earlier account of the two weeks that rocked Fifa.
Fifa has separately hit back at what it called "unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims" circulating about Infantino, after a Daily Telegraph report alleged that a woman said to have had an affair with Infantino while he was Uefa general secretary received a severance payment from the organisation. A Fifa spokesperson told the newspaper that "any insinuation of inappropriate conduct or violation of statutes or regulations is defamatory" and that the allegations were "categorically untrue".
"It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine Fifa and its president," Fifa said in a statement issued on Saturday. "Those who do not have the support of Fifa's member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through Fifa's established democratic processes."
Fifa also issued a statement on behalf of Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom apologising for the FFE proposal, while warning it would "no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process".
"Change inevitably challenges established interests, but disagreement with that change cannot justify efforts to undermine the democratic mandate of Fifa's president or the institution he was elected to lead," the statement added. "Fifa welcomes legitimate scrutiny. But scrutiny is not a licence to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations or manufacture distractions designed to undermine progress. Where reporting is inaccurate or misleading, Fifa will challenge it directly and vigorously."
Why did Uefa reject Fifa's explanation?
Uefa said Fifa's response did not address the central questions around the aborted plan. The European body argued that the meeting in Rabat involved employees who were part of the existing regime rather than an independent attempt to hold the president to account.
Infantino arrived at Fifa's offices in Rabat, Morocco on Wednesday in now-familiar fashion, chauffeured to the building in a motorcade, sitting in the back of a Mercedes with blacked out windows.
Some questioned whether he would still be the Fifa president when he left.
Yet if anything, on the surface at least, Infantino appears emboldened.
This was not the 56-year-old being ordered to a hearing to explain his actions.
It was Infantino who summoned members of the Fifa management board to sit around the table with him, to talk through the events of the last week.
Secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, Infantino's right-hand man, had been critical in an internal memo to staff, calling the FFE proposals
"a sad and reproachable series of events".
After the meeting finished it appeared to be water under the bridge, with Infantino and Grafstrom pictured sat next to each other and smiling at a Women's Africa Cup of Nations match between Malawi and Zambia.
If there were clear-the-air talks, they appear to have worked.
Other members of the Fifa management board to attend the meeting included finance chief Thomas Peyer, legal chief Emilio Garcia Silvero, chief of staff Daniel O'Toole, chief of member associations Elkhan Mammadov and media relations director Bryan Swanson.
has been told that Fifa's chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, was not invited.
Lamour strongly criticised Infantino's FFE plan, saying it was
"the project of one person", and "the time has now come for football's political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions".
"I lose my job, then so be it. At least I'll sleep well tonight."
Lamour has declined to comment. Fifa has been approached for comment. Lamour's intervention followed his own earlier public criticism of the investor plan, made as opposition from Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC first emerged.
What concerns Uefa is that this meeting was a gathering of employees who are themselves part of the regime.
It is unknown if Infantino was forced to answer difficult questions about his plan. Questions such as: who was involved? Whether there was a competitive tender process? And if he stood to benefit personally?
While Fifa said
"mistakes made were acknowledged"and an
"apology was made", there was no direct accountability for the controversy.
Uefa still wants answers to those key questions and will not be content until it gets them - or Infantino leaves.
Why could Uefa still boycott the World Cup?
Uefa is in something of a pickle as it tries to get rid of Infantino.
The easiest route to success was the slow turning of the vice throughout this week, hoping to exert enough pressure to force him to quit.
Yet the Swiss appears to have no intention of walking away.
European football looks like an outlier, struggling to gain enough support to topple him.
On Thursday, Lamin Kaba Bajo, the president of the Gambia Football Federation, praised Infantino's
"courage"and for the U-turn, and said he was
"willing to give him my support more than ever".
Only Jordan, one of the few countries which did not back Infantino before last week, has publicly stated it will not vote for his re-election in March. Jordan FA president Ali bin Hussein has gone further, accusing Fifa of "blackmail" and claiming the organisation offered his federation financial assistance in exchange for backing Infantino, according to Reuters. The same report said five European associations, including the FA, have now formally withdrawn backing for Infantino's re-election bid, with Denmark stating it will not support him regardless of the outcome of the current dispute.
Concacaf, which oversees football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, also issued a public statement after the proposal was aborted but, unlike Uefa, it did not go as far as to say it had lost confidence in the Fifa president.
Conmebol, the South American confederation, said on Thursday it would not support
"any action or procedure that disregards"Fifa's mechanisms before the presidential election.
Similarly, the Mexican Football Federation shared a statement to X expressing their support for Infantino, saying it would not recognise or approve any process convened outside of Fifa's institutional framework - breaking ranks with Concacaf, which had struck a more critical tone.
The Argentine Football Association also published a letter in support of Infantino and the Fifa board, which it said had provided
"institutional solidity"with its current
"stable and transparent"business model.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) said its executive committee
"unanimously reconfirmed"its support for Infantino and thanked him for his support for African football over the years.
Norway has also entered the fray, with Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness calling on Infantino to resign over the affair.
Ideally, Uefa would force an emergency meeting of the Fifa Council, to provide what it would consider to be a true chance to hold Infantino to account.
But getting the necessary 19 of 36 confederation and football association heads to support it has proven to be exceptionally difficult.
Uefa has also kept on the table the option of a vote of no confidence, which it can trigger via an extraordinary congress any time it wishes.
However, it would need a majority of Fifa's 211 member associations - 106 votes - to pass the motion. It would be a de facto presidential election without a second candidate.
If Uefa does not think it can get to 106, which looks a stretch, then there is little point in triggering the vote.
The other option is to try to find a unity candidate to stand against Infantino in the election next March. The favourite would be Concacaf president Victor Montagliani.
Any option which takes time gives Infantino space to build bridges, and with Fifa due to announce new funding to member associations by the end of the year he could dangle another carrot for his re-election.
Unless Uefa sticks by the nuclear option - and goes through with its threat of a boycott.
This has issues, and it is not a lever you can pull very often, otherwise it gives the impression of riding roughshod over the rest of the world.
It is one thing to use it to jettison the FFE proposal, another entirely to effectively dethrone the president with it.
Uefa's stance will soon be tested, with the Fifa Women's U20s World Cup kicking off in Poland on 5 September. Six European countries are due to take part, including England.
What is Uefa's view inside the organisation?
Some at the European confederation claim Wednesday's statement shows exactly why the beleaguered president must step down.
The feeling within Uefa is that the statement was far from representative of the entire world governing body, and that there has been a lack of consultation with the council or membership.
There is also a view that Infantino is trying to swerve personal responsibility by sharing out the blame for the aborted proposals, and that he alone should have apologised - rather than issue his expression of regret alongside his deputy Grafstrom.
By contrast, within Fifa, the view from one Infantino loyalist is that the outcry, especially in Europe, is bordering on
"hysteria", and fails to acknowledge the legitimacy he has globally.
By clinging to power, Infantino has mounted the start of an attempted fightback. But it could yet fuel the revolt against him, both from outside and within Fifa. And it looks increasingly likely his opponents will have to identity the rival candidate that could challenge him at next year's presidential election.
What happens next?
Infantino has set a deadline of 19 September for federations to accept his revised plans if they want to access an initial $20m in funding, according to Euronews. The next major test of his leadership will come at the Fifa Congress in March 2027, when he faces re-election, according to Reuters. Separately, a campaign group is reportedly preparing what it describes as the largest complaint ever directed at Fifa, alleging that Infantino breached the organisation's political-neutrality rules.
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