UEFA tells Infantino football is not for sale after FIFA scraps World Cup stake plan

UEFA hit back after FIFA dropped its plan to sell a stake in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors. The European body called the reversal a win for football but made clear the fight is not over. In a lengthy statement, UEFA said the proposal was rejected unanimously by its own member associations and by many other federations and confederations around the world. It thanked supporters, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations who opposed the scheme, plus prime ministers, heads of state and commentators who, in UEFA's words, showed FIFA president Gianni Infantino that football is not for sale. "We can no longer tolerate secret schemes rushed through by faceless individuals whose value to football is highly doubtful. We have to identify those responsible and hold them to account," the statement said. UEFA also said it will spend the coming days and weeks working with its associations and other confederations to understand how the situation arose and build a plan to stop it happening again. The review must be thorough and fundamental, with no option off the table, UEFA added. The current FIFA leadership has lost the trust not only of UEFA but of many others across the football community, the statement said. The European body then turned to Infantino's 2016 presidential campaign, reminding readers of his promises to be transparent and that FIFA's money belonged to the member associations, not the president. In UEFA's view, he broke both promises. "What he devised and tried to push through was a sloppy, backroom and opaque deal - anything but an example of transparency," UEFA said. UEFA also pointed to FIFA's reserves, which exceed $5 billion. It said it will immediately start working with partners and stakeholders around the world and across all areas of football to propose a new approach to distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward program. Some of the money sitting idle in FIFA's bank accounts could be used to boost grassroots football in all 211 FIFA member countries. "This is a victory for football. But it should not be the end of the story. The proposal has been withdrawn. The task of restoring trust in FIFA is only beginning," UEFA said. Earlier reports said Spain and Portugal could refuse to host the 2030 World Cup.