The English Football Association is set to write to Fifa president Gianni Infantino withdrawing its support amid the fallout from his scrapped plans to sell off stakes in Fifa competitions to private investors.
It comes as Uefa threatens legal action over the proposals and Wales publicly withdraw backing for Infantino’s bid to continue as Fifa president.
Infantino’s leadership had already been publicly questioned by football’s governing bodies in Europe, North and Central America and the Caribbean, with Uefa and Concacaf releasing statements criticising the plans.
Fifa and Infantino wanted to create a commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including its World Cups, and external investors would have been able to buy stakes in it.
World football’s governing body said it would “invite third parties to make minority, non-controlling investments” in a new subsidiary called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE).
As first reported by The Telegraph, Uefa said in a letter to Infantino “it is actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints (together, the ‘proceedings’) arising out of and in connection with the FFE plan proposed by Fifa”.
Uefa added it wants “immediate steps to identify, locate and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or Fifa possession, custody or control.
“These obligations arise independently of any internal retention policy you or your organisation maintain and supersede any routine document destruction or deletion policies that would otherwise apply.”
BBC Sport has approached Fifa for comment.
Infantino wrote to all 211 Fifa member associations saying they would receive $40m (£30m) if they backed his controversial proposal, setting a deadline of 19 September if they wanted to access an initial $20m (£15m).
Thrive Eternal was expected to lead the proposed investor group for FFE.
Thrive is an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner – the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared.
Uefa’s request for all documents regarding the investment plan, included “email, instant messages (WhatsApp, Signal, Teams, Slack or any other platform), SMS, written correspondence and meeting notes”, and those which involved “any Fifa officer, employee, committee member, consultant or agent, or any Fifa member association, confederation, broadcaster, sponsor, or financial institution”.
In reference to the 19 September deadline, Uefa added it wanted documents to be retained “relating to the payment structure for Fifa member associations, including the design, modelling, legal basis, approval and communications to member associations”.
Uefa asked Infantino to acknowledge receipt of its letter in writing within five business days, to confirm he had “received and understood this notice” and that he has “taken immediate steps to preserve relevant materials as required”.
As the pressure grows on Infantino, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Sri Lanka have pledged their support for his Fifa leadership to continue.
If he holds out until March, he could stand for re-election for a fourth and final term as president and would need 106 votes from Fifa’s 211 members to win.
Uefa has 55 votes, Africa 54, Asia 46, Concacaf 35, Oceania 11 and Conmebol 10.
The Asian Football Federation (AFC) has said it stands in “solidarity” with Uefa and Concacaf, while Africa, Conmebol and Oceania have not criticised Infantino’s plan.
However, the Fifa Council could try to force Infantino to resign through an emergency meeting.
That would be triggered if 19 of the 37 Fifa Council members call for one and the meeting must take place within two weeks.
Uefa has nine members, AFC has seven, Concacaf five, Africa has six, Conmebol five and Oceania three. It is completed by Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom.
By BBC Sports
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
