Monaco upheaval: Europe declares all-out war on Infantino with an official move
The World Cup is not for sale..
Representatives of the national associations serving on UEFA's executive committee, Europe's members of the FIFA Council and the UEFA national association presidents present in the principality gathered for an emergency meeting in Monaco to discuss the ongoing crisis within FIFA. It was timed to coincide with the draw for the 2026/2027 European club competitions.
Top of the agenda was the fallout from the FIFA president's failed attempt to sell a stake in the World Cup to external investors. The statement said the plan had revealed "a grave lack of judgement, an abuse of presidential authority, and a concept of leadership incompatible with the duties of the highest office in the world of football".
Full mandate to bring down one-man rule
Those present unanimously confirmed a mandate for the UEFA president and his administration to pursue every available institutional, political and legal avenue to ensure "a radical reform, the reimposition of appropriate limits on presidential authority, and a guarantee that FIFA is once again run as a complete institution, not through a single individual".
As a first, non-negotiable step, they demanded "a genuine, independent external review of the FIFA Forward institution, with full access to all relevant documents, correspondence and decision-making records". The statement stressed that "FIFA cannot conduct a self-investigation and expect the football community to simply accept its findings".
Withdrawal of confidence and a call for Infantino's departure
This went beyond governance. It declared a collapse of confidence in the president himself: "The trust required to hold the office of FIFA president has been shaken, and it cannot be restored by withdrawing a single proposal, issuing guarantees, or pledging reform when it is too late. The world of football now needs new leadership capable of rebuilding that trust."
Then came the most serious threat since Infantino took office. UEFA announced that "if the current FIFA president seeks another term, UEFA will cooperate with partner continental confederations to ensure that a credible alternative is presented to the member associations, an alternative committed to integrity, accountability, development and genuine institutional change".
FIFA's billions: why do we need investors?
The statement laid bare the stark contradiction in FIFA's argument, recalling that FIFA "currently holds billions of dollars in reserves, money that belongs to the member associations".
UEFA said it would explore with the other continental confederations "the possibility of a responsible release of a portion of FIFA's reserves in favour of the member associations, while ensuring that financial stability is preserved". They asked: "Why did the FIFA president believe there was a need for external investors to expand development funding?"
Written confirmation of the project's withdrawal and suspension of the European withdrawal
UEFA had also obtained written confirmation from FIFA that the "FIFA Forward Enterprise" project had "been withdrawn definitively and irreversibly, and that it would not reappear in any form, structure, name or other formulation".
On the basis of this confirmation, obtained on 30 July, and after consultation with the national associations, UEFA agreed to suspend the withdrawal of European national teams from FIFA competitions for the coming season. That includes the Women's Under-20 World Cup, the Under-17 World Cup and the Women's Under-17 World Cup. The suspension is temporary, and UEFA stressed the position would remain under continuous review and could be reconsidered immediately should circumstances require.
