The European Football Association "UEFA" issued a joint statement alongside the Asian Football Confederation and the CONCACAF Association, an official statement in which FIFA President Gianni Infantino was criticized again, on the sidelines of the controversial decisions that were taken and later retracted, regarding the sale of FIFA shares to external investors.
Infantino has been subjected to massive criticism over the past period, in light of his decision to sell shares of FIFA to external investors, in order to manage the World Cup tournaments, with the rest of the federations receiving large sums of money.
UEFA confirmed in the joint statement with CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation that Infantino's actions constitute a clear violation of trust.
The statement read as follows: "Deception contributes to completely destroying trust, when someone prefers himself over the public interest. Football is the greatest thing one can be passionate about and everyone loves it around the world. This game is not owned by a specific person or institution."
It added: "Football belongs to the players, the fans, the clubs, the member federations, and every institution responsible for protecting its future. Based on this principle, and as continental federations, we are speaking collectively today."
It clarified: "There has been real development in football over the past decade, but this development was never the result of one person. Rather, it was the product of the work of FIFA, the continental federations, the member federations, and thousands of people who dedicate their lives to this game."
It continued: "Expanding the scope of the tournaments, announcing the hosts of the World Cup in 2030 and 2034, and distributing resources to the federations are all joint achievements that were agreed upon together and achieved together."
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It added: "It is not about money. The continental federations have already called for a fair distribution of FIFA's current huge financial reserves to enhance investment in the development of member federations."
It continued: "It is not about a member of FIFA losing the support it received, despite the messages directed to our members to say something contrary to that, nor is it about reconsidering the expansion of the scope of competitions, or the privatization of the World Cup, or any other decisions that were taken collectively. Those decisions were taken together and must remain in effect. Rather, it is about something more obvious, which is the integrity of football and the integrity of those elected to its presidency and leadership."
The statement continued: "Leadership in football does not belong to one person. It is not about monopolizing power or demanding it. Rather, it is the duty to serve the football family that trusted it. When trust is destroyed by deception, and when the individual prefers himself over the people who entrusted him with power, he has abandoned this duty."
It added: "FIFA acknowledged in its recent statement addressed to its vice presidents and the 211 member federations that there were procedural errors, and considered this statement as a shortcoming in communication, while what football witnessed during the past period was a shortcoming in judgment."
It said: "Submitting such a proposal in a short time without serious consultation, and setting a deadline for it before the member federations can properly review its clauses, is not the result of an ordinary mistake or oversight, but rather the result of a decision aimed at avoiding scrutiny."
It added: "FIFA did not acknowledge that this proposal was wrong from the beginning, and no one mentioned that attempting to sell a stake in the World Cup was a grave error in judgment. It was not merely a procedural flaw, but a serious breach of trust with the institutions that FIFA was established to serve."
It clarified: "FIFA committed to submitting a full report on these events to the Board of Directors, again ignoring that good governance under this grave error in judgment requires that this review be conducted by a completely independent external body, not by FIFA itself or its employees or any other body concerned with football. FIFA management must not interfere in this review."
It added: "As stated in previous letters, all relevant documents and records must be preserved in accordance with UEFA's statement regarding the preservation of document confidentiality."
The statement continued: "FIFA's own letter confirms that only one elected official attended the Board of Directors meeting in Morocco, while no member of the FIFA Board of Directors or the member federations was invited to participate, and attendance was limited to the Management Committee only, which consists of senior FIFA staff."
It continued: "This recent meeting, to which a limited number of FIFA Management Committee members were summoned, not the entire committee, was held outside FIFA headquarters, instead of the leadership going to Zurich to address FIFA staff, reinforces these concerns and represents a continuation of the behavioral pattern that has brought us to this moment."
It added: "This behavior is not befitting of someone responsible for the game, and there is clear silence where there should be accountability with full transparency. Football does not deserve these qualities in the people who manage it. For this reason, we have taken this position, not lightly, and not alone, but together, and out of our duty towards the game we serve."
It concluded the statement: "The strength of football has always been in its unity. We call for respect for this unity now, and for leadership that serves football, not seeks to control it."
🚨 BREAKING: UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC write a joint letter signed by Aleksander Čeferin, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa and Victor Montagliani. It calls for an independent review into FIFA Forward Enterprise and adds "trust is broken through deception, when an… pic.twitter.com/kEth9jBFoK — Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) August 10, 2026@JacobsBen
