Infantino faces fresh Fifa backlash as New Zealand withdraws support

New Zealand has become the latest football association to withdraw its backing for Gianni Infantino's bid for a fourth term as Fifa president, joining a growing list of critics angered by the governing body's now-abandoned plan to sell off a stake in its commercial rights, Reuters reports.

The move follows open criticism of Infantino's leadership from three of football's six continental confederations – Uefa (Europe), the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf, representing North and Central America – all of whom have demanded a formal review of how the proposal was handled. 

Together, those three confederations represent 136 of the 211 Fifa member associations due to vote in next year's presidential election.

New Zealand, the only Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) nation to have qualified for this year's World Cup, said it had lost confidence and trust in Fifa's current leadership and was calling specifically for an independent review, rather than an internal one. New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell told Reuters the association wanted to avoid any sense of Fifa marking its own homework, and said an independent process – already sought by other confederations – would go some way toward rebuilding trust.

The OFC itself struck a more measured tone, welcoming Fifa's decision to scrap the stake sale while stopping short of turning on Infantino. In a statement, the confederation credited Fifa's leadership with a decade of progress in developing football in the Oceania region, while encouraging Fifa to treat the coming review as a chance to make any changes the process identifies as necessary.

Infantino still has allies

The scrapped proposal would have seen Fifa sell a 20% stake in World Cup commercial rights to private investors in a deal worth roughly $4.2 billion, before Infantino reversed course amid the backlash. The plan had been sweetened with a $20 million grant on offer to member associations for the next funding cycle – an amount that could reportedly have doubled had associations signed on.

Fifa has since apologised to its 211 member associations for how the proposal was handled, following a crisis meeting in Morocco last week at which the organisation said Infantino retained the full support of its leadership.

Despite the pushback from Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf, Infantino remains far from isolated. Six Arab football federations, including Qatar and 2030 World Cup co-hosts Morocco, publicly backed him on Thursday, praising what they described as his sustained efforts to grow the global game. The Confederation of African Football's executive committee has also unanimously reaffirmed its support for Infantino, though that does not guarantee a unified vote from all 54 of its members when the time comes.

Pragnell said any independent review of the shelved Fifa Forward Enterprise plan needed to properly examine how the decision was made and overseen within Fifa, including who was involved in bringing Thrive Capital – a firm with family ties to US President Donald Trump – into a leading role in the venture. He added that while the scope of such a review needs careful thought, the priority is for all confederations to agree on that scope and get the process moving without delay.

Australia, an AFC member, has separately called for an independent review in step with the Asian confederation, though it has not taken a public position on Infantino's leadership itself. Pragnell said New Zealand felt strongly aligned with Australia's position, pointing to its support for the AFC's own statement on the matter.

Source: Reuters (reporting by Ian Ransom; editing by Peter Rutherford).