- Wales has withdrawn its support for Gianni Infantino’s re-election bid
- The decision follows the collapse of FIFA’s World Cup investment proposal
- Pressure on Infantino is growing from football governing bodies
Wales has become the first national football association to publicly withdraw its backing for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s bid for another term following the collapse of his controversial proposal to attract private investment into the World Cup.
Eko Hot Blog gathered that Infantino had sought the support of FIFA’s 211 member associations by proposing a package that would have provided each federation with $40 million in exchange for approving plans to sell stakes in FIFA competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups.
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However, the proposal was abandoned after facing strong opposition from three continental football confederations.
In a statement released on Monday, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) announced that it would no longer support Infantino’s candidacy for the FIFA presidential election scheduled for March 2027 in Rabat, Morocco.
The association said it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership, citing concerns over governance, decision-making, transparency, stakeholder engagement and communication.
According to the FAW, the FIFA president had failed to place the interests of football above other considerations, a situation it described as unacceptable.
The statement declared that Wales was officially withdrawing its endorsement of Infantino’s bid for another four-year term.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that the English Football Association has also informed FIFA that it no longer supports Infantino’s re-election campaign.
The English FA had earlier issued a statement backing UEFA’s position after the European football governing body announced that it no longer had confidence in Infantino’s leadership.
Criticism has also emerged from other regions, with CONCACAF, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, calling for a thorough review of Infantino’s leadership, while the Asian Football Confederation urged FIFA to improve transparency in its decision-making processes.
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