Following massive criticism of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, he gathered his leadership in Morocco on Wednesday. In a press release, FIFA apologised for the botched World Cup schedule, but made it clear that the leadership team has "full confidence" in Infantino and will not tolerate any attacks on FIFA's "integrity."
The European Football Association (Uefa) in turn announced on Thursday that its conditions for participating in FIFA competitions have not been met - even though the plan has now been scrapped.
Lacks confidence
"UEFA's member associations were very clear about the conditions for their non-participation in FIFA competitions. Firstly, the proposals to sell out the major tournaments must be withdrawn, and secondly, guarantees must be given that such attempts to disfigure football in this way will never be made again. These conditions have not been met," UEFA writes.
The association also writes that it still lacks confidence in Gianni Infantino.
"Furthermore, UEFA made it crystal clear in its statement on Saturday that the federation has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino's presidency. That position remains firm," the federation writes and continues:
“Utterly dystopian”
"Yesterday's announcement that a number of people employed by the FIFA president - and whose careers depend on his goodwill - agree with him changes nothing."
According to the British The Telegraph, leaders from both Europe and Concacaf (the North and Central American and Caribbean Confederation) are now trying to gather enough support to bring down Infantino in a vote of no confidence or launch a challenger for the presidency.
"This document will become a cornerstone of surrealist literature. It is completely dystopian," a senior football executive told the newspaper.
Against a vote of no confidence
Several national federations – including Sweden – have announced that they will not support Infantino in the re-election in March.
The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) wrote in a statement that the federation is concerned about "the repeated unilateral measures that have been taken without dialogue," but does not support a vote of no confidence.
"We call for preserving unity within the football family, strengthening dialogue and respecting governance mechanisms."
