What next for beleaguered FIFA president Infantino?
PARIS - Embattled FIFA president Gianni Infantino's hope that a combative statement condemning "a concerted and ongoing effort" to undermine him would spark…
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PARIS - Embattled FIFA president Gianni Infantino's hope that a combative statement condemning "a concerted and ongoing effort" to undermine him would spark a period of reflection were dashed on Monday.
It is over a week since Infantino withdrew his plan to raise private investment for a new commercial subsidiary, called the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which it proposed would run the commercial side of World Cups.
Three confederations, Europe's UEFA, North and Central America CONCACAF and Asia's AFC, did not hold back in targetting Infantino and his style of leadership in an open letter on Monday.
Despite all sides calling for unity, their idea of how that can be achieved diverges markedly.
AFP Sport looks at who stands with whom and what the next steps in the saga could be:
The 56-year-old Swiss's 10 years in power have not gone to waste as increased funding to the 211 member associations has paid off.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF), one of its members Morocco is co-host of the 2030 World Cup, remains firmly behind him.
"The CAF EXCO (executive committee) also unanimously reconfirmed its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino and thanked him for his support for African football, over the years," read their statement last week.
South American governing body CONMEBOL remain largely supportive, although they did criticise the manner in which the plan had been conceived and handled, and said Infantino's future should only be decided in the presidential election in Rabat next March.
Individual member associations have broken ranks with their respective confederations, among them one of this year's World Cup co-hosts Mexico, from CONCACAF, and Kuwait and Qatar from the AFC, who have all voiced support for Infantino.
UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC doubled down on their scathing criticism of Infantino in the letter over the plan dismissed by UEFA as a "shabby, opaque, backroom deal".
UEFA's threat to boycott all FIFA competitions, including the men's and women's World Cups, is widely credited with forcing Infantino into his humiliating climbdown.
They reiterated that threat last week, the day after Infantino had received the "full support" of senior FIFA directors, and for a while it seemed they were on their own as both CONCACAF and AFC did not follow suit with statements.
Monday, though, showed UEFA was far from alone.
"When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned," the three confederations wrote.
UEFA's boycott threat will face its first test in September when Poland hosts the Women's Under-20 World Cup.
One of Infantino's bitterest opponents, the Norwegian Football Federation and their forthright president Lise Klaveness, called for Infantino to resign last Friday.
Several other member associations have publicly withdrawn their support for his re-election, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Serbia and Wa…