UEFA issued a statement following FIFA President Gianni Infantino's retreat from a plan to sell a stake in FIFA tournaments over the coming years in exchange for upfront financial compensation.
FIFA had asked member associations to study the offer before Infantino faced sharp criticism from several continental confederations, led by UEFA and CONCACAF, after which the plan was withdrawn.
The text of UEFA's statement read: "We cannot continue in this manner, through secret schemes rushed through and devised by unknown individuals, while their benefit to football remains in doubt. We must identify those responsible and hold them accountable."
It also directly criticized Infantino: "(Infantino) failed to fulfill both promises, as the poor and opaque deal, arranged behind closed doors and attempted to be imposed, had no connection to transparency."
UEFA's statement continued as follows:
UEFA welcomes FIFA's decision to withdraw its plan to sell a stake in its tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors.
The proposal was met with collective rejection from UEFA's member national associations, along with many other associations and continental confederations of all sizes around the world, whose mission is to protect football.
UEFA extends its thanks to all fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, and national and continental associations who opposed this plan, as well as to heads of government and state and commentators who made it clear to the FIFA President that football is not for sale.
We cannot continue in this manner, through secret schemes rushed through and devised by unknown individuals, while their benefit to football remains in doubt. We must identify those responsible and hold them accountable.
It is right that UEFA, in the coming days and weeks, works with its associations and in close cooperation with other continental confederations to examine how this happened and to develop a plan to ensure it does not recur. This review must be comprehensive and radical, and no option should be excluded from it. The current leadership of FIFA has lost not only UEFA's confidence but also that of many members of the football family.
When Gianni Infantino sought the confidence and votes of FIFA's member associations to elect him president in 2016, he said: "Of course we must be transparent. I have committed to that throughout the past 15 years of my life within UEFA. You will have to play a daily role in the life of FIFA."
He then addressed the stakeholders present, saying: "FIFA's money is your money, not the FIFA president's money. It is your money. You are the national associations, and FIFA's money must be used to develop football, not for anything else."
But he failed to fulfill both promises. The poor and opaque deal, arranged behind closed doors and attempted to be imposed, had no connection to transparency.
With FIFA's reserves exceeding five billion dollars, Infantino also failed to use the associations' funds in the interest of the game.
UEFA will immediately begin working with partners and stakeholders around the world and across the football ecosystem to propose a new mechanism for distributing resources through the existing "FIFA Forward" program.
We must begin using part of these frozen funds in FIFA's bank accounts to give grassroots football and the game in general the starting boost it needs in each of the 211 member countries of FIFA. But we do not need to sell off football's precious assets to finance that.
It is a victory for football as a whole, but it must not mark the end of the story. The proposal has ended, yet the task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.