MIAMI (DA) — CONCACAF, the Asian Football Confederation and UEFA accused FIFA leadership Monday of deception and a “fundamental breach of trust” over the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, escalating their demand for an independent investigation into the plan.
In a joint open letter, the three confederations rejected FIFA’s intention to report its findings to the FIFA Council. They said the review must be conducted by a fully independent third party, with no involvement from FIFA’s administration or any other football stakeholder.
The confederations also called for all documents and records connected to the proposal to be preserved.
AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani and UEFA President Aleksander ?eferin signed the letter alongside their general secretaries, Datuk Seri Windsor John, Philippe Moggio and Theodore Theodoridis.
Their intervention followed the withdrawal of FIFA Forward Enterprise, a proposed FIFA-controlled subsidiary that would have consolidated the governing body’s commercial rights and tournament operations.
FIFA planned to raise as much as $4.2 billion by selling minority interests in the subsidiary. Its funding package included an optional, one-time allocation of as much as $20 million for each member association, plus an increase in regular FIFA Forward funding to $20 million per association during the 2027-30 cycle.
Curaçao was among the 211 FIFA member associations that would have been eligible for the funding. The Curaçao Football Federation is also part of CONCACAF’s 41-member bloc, which welcomed the proposal’s withdrawal on Aug. 1.
FIFA maintained that it would have retained control of the subsidiary and exclusive authority over competitions, governance and sporting decisions. The three confederations, however, characterized the proposed outside investment as an attempt to sell an interest in the FIFA World Cup.
They also disputed FIFA’s explanation that problems surrounding the proposal resulted from communication mistakes.
The letter said the accelerated timetable, lack of meaningful consultation and pressure to reach a decision before member associations could fully examine the terms amounted to a “design intended to limit scrutiny.”
It further criticized a recent FIFA leadership meeting in Morocco. The confederations said FIFA’s own correspondence confirmed that only one elected official attended, with no FIFA Council members or representatives of member associations present. The gathering instead included selected members of FIFA’s management committee, which consists of senior employees.
Although the letter did not identify FIFA President Gianni Infantino by name, it repeatedly referred to an individual placing himself above the collective institutions responsible for governing the sport.
FIFA had issued a statement Saturday defending Infantino’s democratic mandate and alleging a “concerted and ongoing effort” to undermine the organization and its president through misinformation and unsubstantiated claims.
Before the project was withdrawn, FIFA also insisted that no one was selling football and said every member association should have been allowed to examine and vote on the proposal.
The three confederations said their opposition was not about depriving associations of development money or reversing previously approved decisions on tournament expansion and World Cup allocations. They instead called for FIFA’s existing reserves to be distributed responsibly to support football development.
“This is about something more fundamental,” the letter said, pointing to the integrity of the sport and its elected leadership.