Asian soccer body joins opposition to boycott FIFA over private equity plan

GENEVA — Asia's soccer body joined opposition to FIFA's plan for private investors to buy stakes in the World Cup and said on Friday the agency must urgently review its management style.

The Asian Football Confederation said it "stands in solidarity" with European body UEFA and North America's CONCACAF, which on Thursday threatened to boycott FIFA competitions and rejected FIFA President Gianni Infantino's offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation.

"Football should never have been placed in such a position," said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA's 211 member federations that Infantino gave a Sept 19 deadline to accept the $20 million offer.

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA's commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20 percent owned by private investors.

"(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward" and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.

The statement did not name Infantino but criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan and for failing to consult on a secretive proposal that was revealed on Tuesday in media reports.

Infantino's senior adviser on Friday quit over the plan, calling it a "bad deal" for the sport.

"It is a bad deal for FIFA's member associations, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game," wrote Carlos Cordeiro, a former head of the US Soccer Federation.

Cordeiro, appointed in 2021 by Infantino to help shape FIFA's future, said the soccer body was "mortgaging football's future without any compelling justification".

Cordeiro added that he had no involvement in the proposal and opposed it "unequivocally".

On Thursday, European nations agreed to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions to protest the plan. The North American soccer body rejected his plan later the same day.

"UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions," the European soccer body said after an urgent online meeting of its 55 member nations.

FIFA issued a statement on Friday saying that "nobody is selling football" and that it plans to continue the consultation process. But it appeared to back off from establishing the public equity move — what it calls the FIFA Forward Enterprise — if member countries do not agree.

The next FIFA event targeted by the threatened European boycott is in the next few weeks — the Women's Under-20 World Cup, hosted by Poland from Sept 5. The four British federations comprise FIFA's only bidder to host the 2035 Women's World Cup. That decision is due Nov 23.

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA