FIFA rejects World Cup sale claims as backlash against Infantino grows

"⁠Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports. We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA has the ability to express its vote based on facts," FIFA said in a statement.

The statement added: "Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.

"Everyone has the right to express their opposition and to seek further clarification, but no single entity can claim to represent all 211 MAs around the world.

"Each MA should be allowed to review the proposal and have a say in shaping their own future. These are the democratic principles of FIFA."

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is under increasing pressure over his position - as at least 90 of football’s 211 associations expressly reject his plan to sell off the World Cup to private investors.

It has been reported that the controversial president is losing support amid his re-election bid, with a growing belief that his attempt to privatise the World Cup would leave him unable to stay in office.

On Thursday, North America’s football confederation Concacaf followed Uefa, its European counterpart, in slamming proposals to spin off the World Cup and sell stakes in the tournament to private investors.

Uefa has been clear that should the plans succeed, it would pull its members out of all Fifa-organised tournaments.

This would mean that top nations, such as men’s and women’s world champions Spain, would no longer appear at the World Cup.

In a statement released on Thursday night, Concacaf said its members had expressed "deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant Fifa governance bodies".

The statement continued: "In addition, the need for private equity investment to fund new and existing Fifa Forward programs following the most profitable Fifa World Cup in history was questioned," during a meeting today.

A source told Sky News that the majority of Concacaf’s 41 member nations were disillusioned with Infantino, with the confederation’s Canadian leader Victor Montagliani said to be a potential successor to the Swiss-Italian.

Infantino has led Fifa for 10 years - having succeeded Sepp Blatter after he was embroiled in a corruption scandal.

It is unknown which mechanism could be triggered in order to remove Infantino.

Uefa’s statement on Thursday appears to have sparked a solidification of the backlash.

In a fiery release, the European football body said: “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross.

“UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game.

“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”

Football’s world governing body said on Tuesday it was seeking to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which it revealed would be responsible for bringing together the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights with the operational delivery of its tournaments.

The creation of the company, FIFA said, was subject to approval from national associations and the FIFA Council.

FIFA said the creation of FFE would lead to a significant increase in football development funding to national associations and bring FIFA’s total planned spending on development to more than 10 billion US dollars (£7.5bn) over the next four years.

FIFA said, if the proposal was given the green light, the plan was to “carefully select long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests in FFE”.

It revealed Thrive Eternal, a company launched in April by Joshua Kushner, the brother of United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, would lead the proposed investor group for FFE.