Football’s ongoing civil war has escalated further, with FIFA and embattled president Gianni Infantino facing the threat of breakaway competitions in response to the aborted plan to sell a stake in the World Cup.
UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF, which represents North and Central America and the Caribbean, have banded together to issue a savage open letter accusing Infantino and the world governing body of “deception” and abandoning their duty to the game.
With UEFA still threatening a boycott of future World Cups, reports have emerged that the three bodies are in discussions over the possibility of setting up a separate tournament to allow players the opportunity to compete in major competition should FIFA not acquiesce to a series of demands.
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And if that wasn’t troubling enough for the scandal-plagued organisation, it has been revealed that a banker heavily involved in the sell-off plan was closely linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
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The joint letter, signed by each association’s president and secretary-general and branded “Open letter to the football family”, describes their opposition to FIFA and Infantino as “a duty of service to the football family”.
“This is not about money. The Confederations have already called for the responsible distribution of FIFA’s vast existing reserves to further strengthen investment in the development of Member Associations,” the statement reads.
“Nor is it about any Member Association losing the support it has earned, despite the fearmongering directed at our membership to suggest otherwise.
“Nor is it about revisiting the expansion of competitions, World Cup allocations, or any other decisions reached collectively. Those decisions were made together, and they must stand.
“This is about something more fundamental: the integrity of the game, and the integrity of those elected to lead it.
“Leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about holding – or demanding – power to be held.
“It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it.”
The letter makes no direct reference to Infantino, whose ousting as FIFA president has been high on UEFA’s list of priorities since the beginning of the saga.
But its claim that “when trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned” could scarcely have been more pointed.
While FIFA and Infantino have stepped away from the sell-off plan, citing it as a mistake, the backtrack hasn’t proved sufficient for world football’s leaders.
“A proposal advanced on a compressed timeline, without meaningful consultation, and pushed towards a deadline before Member Associations could properly review its terms is not the product of an oversight – it is the product of a design intended to limit scrutiny,” the letter reads.
“It did not acknowledge that the proposal itself was inherently wrong. There remains no recognition that attempting to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup was a profound failure of judgement – not just a procedural misstep, but a fundamental breach of trust with the very institutions FIFA exists to serve.
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“FIFA has also committed to presenting a full report on these events to the FIFA Council, once again failing to recognise that proper governance in the face of such a profound lack of judgement would require that such a review be conducted by a fully independent third party, not by FIFA itself, its staff, or by any stakeholder within football.”
The letter adds: “There is silence where there should be accountability, distance where there should be openness.
“These are not the qualities football deserves in its leadership.
“That is why we have taken this stance: not lightly and not alone, but together, and out of duty to the game we serve.”
The three associations’ voice has been added to by US Soccer, who released a statement of their own calling for “meaningful change that strengthens FIFA’s governance, transparency and accountability”.
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The Telegraph has reported that talks of a breakaway competition are still in their infancy, but remain a viable option should the stand-off continue.
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The first major competition set to be affected by the boycott is the U20 Women’s World Cup, which takes place in Poland next month.
France have indicated their team will play regardless, while England’s Football Association refused to comment.
FIFA, meanwhile, have remained staunch in support of Infantino, who has garnered support from the Confederation of African Football as well as Argentina and Mexico.
But a report from The Telegraph revealing JP Morgan Chase head of asset and wealth management Mary Erdoes, who was among the key figures in the sell-off plan, had ties to disgraced financier and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein before his death won’t help matters.
Erdoes led FIFA’s push to discover investors as part of the plan to sell a 20 per cent stake in the association and its biggest events.
Those investors included Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared.
Emails have revealed the pair were in regular contact over banking matters, with Erdoes even sending Epstein a birthday greeting in 2012.
She only ended the bank’s affiliation with him in 2013 – well after his 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution.