Prime Minister Andy Burnham has openly criticised FIFA president Gianni Infantino, calling him "the wrong man" to head the world governing body for football. Burnham’s remarks add to mounting pressure on Infantino after a senior adviser resigned in protest over a controversial plan to commercialise the sport’s flagship events. Burnham’s objection centres on FIFA’s proposal to sell stakes in its tournaments – including the World Cup – to private investors. When the plan first surfaced, he denounced it as a betrayal of football’s public‑interest ethos, and on Friday he said, "The very fact that such a proposal could even be tabled proves, in my view, that he is the wrong person to lead this organisation." His condemnation follows a coordinated pushback from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which joined UEFA and CONCACAF in publicly opposing the scheme.
The three confederations have all called for an "urgent review of FIFA’s governance" and for the president to be held accountable for the lack of transparency surrounding the initiative. The controversy deepened when Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Infantino and a former banker with a lifelong passion for the game, announced his resignation. In a statement to Sky News, Cordeiro described the privatisation plan as "a bad deal for football and for the long‑term future of the sport." He added, "As a senior advisor to the FIFA president, I cannot stand by while FIFA contemplates selling a stake in the World Cup.
Let me be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally." A second senior official, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, later told the Associated Press that staff members felt "deceived" by Infantino’s secretive approach. Lamour argued that employees deserve "better than contempt and intimidation" and warned that the World Cup plan appeared to be "the project of one person" rather than a collective decision made by football’s global community. FIFA responded early on Friday with a statement insisting that "nobody is selling football" and that the media reports were inaccurate.
The governing body said it would continue with a consultation process designed to give each member association a chance to vote based on factual information, not on speculation. The proposed commercial vehicle, dubbed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), is presented by FIFA as a means for national associations to gain meaningful ownership of commercial opportunities within their own markets.
According to the organization, the initiative would not compromise the spirit or governance of football, and it reiterated that the notion of "selling football" is simply false. Nevertheless, the plan has sparked fierce opposition from the sport’s traditional power bases. UEFA’s 55 member associations issued a joint statement declaring they would not take part in any FIFA tournament until the proposal is withdrawn. CONCACAF, representing 41 nations from North and Central America and the Caribbean, echoed the sentiment, saying it "rejected the proposal" outright.
The investor group behind FFE is reportedly led by Thrive Eternal, a company founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son‑in‑law Jared Kushner. Thrive Eternal has so far declined to comment on the deal, but its involvement has added a political dimension to the debate.
When asked at a cabinet meeting at Camp David whether he had spoken with Infantino about the plan, President Trump said, "No, I never spoke to him." The former president’s brief denial did little to quell speculation about possible U.S. influence on the project. UEFA’s opposition is described as "unanimous and unequivocal". The confederation warned that no UEFA national teams would participate in any FIFA competition while the proposal remains on the table, unless it is abandoned entirely and binding guarantees are provided that FIFA will never again entertain private ownership of its competitions.
The AFC, which had historically been one of Infantino’s staunchest supporters, signalled a shift in stance on Friday. Its president, Sheikh Salman, who finished second to Infantino in the 2016 FIFA presidential election, called for a comprehensive review of FIFA’s decision‑making framework.
The AFC’s statement stressed that genuine democracy requires transparent governance, timely consultation, informed deliberation and meaningful participation throughout the process, not merely a vote. Inside FIFA, the fallout appears to be spreading.
Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports News described the situation as a "catastrophic error of judgment" for Infantino, suggesting that the president now faces a real possibility of losing his job. Solhekol noted that a vote of no confidence could be triggered at an emergency congress if 20 percent of FIFA’s 211 member associations back it, and that Infantino will likely be challenged by one or more candidates at next year’s presidential election.
Critics also point to a series of other contentious decisions made under Infantino’s tenure, such as the approval for Folarin Balogun to play for the United States against Belgium at the World Cup despite a suspension, as evidence of a pattern of questionable governance. The broader concern among football administrators is that commercial imperatives could drive FIFA to schedule larger, more frequent tournaments, further crowding domestic calendars and potentially undermining the sport’s grassroots structure.
The fear is that a profit‑driven model could erode the traditional values that have made football a global cultural institution. In summary, the combination of high‑profile resignations, public rebukes from continental confederations, and mounting political scrutiny has placed Gianni Infantino under unprecedented pressure.
Whether the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise will survive the wave of criticism remains uncertain, but the episode has undeniably sparked a vigorous debate about the future governance of world football and the role of private capital in the sport’s most treasured events.