Wales becomes first federation to withdraw support for Infantino

Gianni Infantino walked back his own proposal to sell World Cup rights only days ago, but the political damage has not gone away. The Football Association of Wales has become the first national federation to formally withdraw its support for the FIFA president ahead of the next election. FAW published a joint declaration issued in the name of UEFA and all 55 member associations. The statement is blunt: European football will not accept private investors taking ownership stakes in FIFA competitions, and the World Cup is not an investment product or a commodity to be sold. The European position goes further. No UEFA national team would take part in FIFA competitions while the proposal remains on the table, the statement warned. To change that, FIFA would have to abandon the scheme completely and offer binding guarantees that it would never again open its tournaments or governance to private ownership. On Infantino personally, the Welsh federation was equally direct. FAW said the FIFA president had lost its confidence because of repeated failures in governance, process, leadership, values, stakeholder relations, communication and judgment. It has informed FIFA of that decision and confirmed it will not back Infantino for another term in 2027-2031. The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for 18 March 2027 in Rabat.