Wales withdraws support for Infantino, and UEFA threatens legal action

The Football Association of Wales announced this Monday the withdrawal of support for Infantino's candidacy for the 2027 to 2031 term. It was the first national association to publicly break with the leader.

“FAW confirms the withdrawal of support for Mr. Gianni Infantino’s candidacy for re-election as FIFA president for the 2027 to 2031 term,” the organization said in a statement sent to British broadcaster Sky News.

The federation justified the decision by criticizing FIFA's conduct in recent weeks.

“Recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communication and judgment have led us to a position in which Mr Infantino has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the forefront of world football,” he stated.

The note added that the federation could not accept what it classified as an inability to put the interests of the sport first.

The election for the FIFA presidency is scheduled for March 18. The deadline for submitting applications ends on November 18th. Before the crisis, Infantino had already gathered more than 200 formal demonstrations of support.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, other federations, especially those linked to UEFA, are also considering withdrawing their support for the manager.

The FIFA Forward Enterprise project had already been rejected by UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation.

The harshest reaction came from the entity that controls European football. According to The Telegraph, UEFA sent a letter to Infantino last Friday and informed him that it is analyzing judicial, arbitration and regulatory measures related to the proposal.

In the document, the confederation determined that FIFA identifies, locates and preserves all information and electronic files relating to the project. The entity also warned against any routine disposal of documents linked to the case.

“UEFA, as well as other confederations, FIFA-affiliated federations and football stakeholders, strongly condemned the FFE plan as fundamentally incompatible with the proper governance of the sport,” the letter states.

UEFA added that, given the possibility of lawsuits, all materials related to the project must be preserved immediately.

The European entity is also evaluating measures against Joshua Kushner, president of the Thrive Eternal fund, identified as one of the main supporters of the initiative. He is the brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump.

JP Morgan, OpenEconomics and Greg Maffei, executive director of Bann Ventures, also appear among those involved in planning the subsidiary and could be included in the actions studied by UEFA.

Infantino is experiencing an unprecedented crisis and sees an 'early election' climate at FIFA

The hegemony built since 2016 is challenged by the broad rejection of the proposal, now withdrawn, to sell a stake in the commercial rights of the World Cup and other competitions through a new company of the highest entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).