New Zealand withdraws backing for Infantino over failed Fifa investment plan

New Zealand has withdrawn its support for Gianni Infantino’s bid for a fourth term as Fifa president, saying an independent investigation is needed into the abandoned proposal to sell a stake in the commercial rights to Fifa competitions.

New Zealand Football, the only Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) member to qualify for this year’s World Cup, said trust and confidence in Fifa’s leadership had been damaged by the plan.

The decision comes after Europe’s Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Concacaf, which represents North and Central America, called for a review of Infantino’s leadership and criticised the way the proposal had been handled.

Infantino is due to seek re-election at the Fifa congress next year. The African and South American confederations have publicly maintained their support for him.

New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said the review must not simply be conducted internally by Fifa.

“We’ve called for an independent review specifically because what we don’t want to see is a sort of in-house quick washover of this,” New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell said.

“An independent review is something else that has been called for by other confederations that will help restore some of the trust.”

The OFC has taken a more cautious position. It welcomed Fifa’s decision to abandon the investment proposal and acknowledged what it described as progress in football development across Oceania during Infantino’s leadership.

“OFC recognises the progress achieved over the past decade in advancing football development in Oceania under Fifa’s leadership and encourages Fifa to use the review as an opportunity to identify and implement any changes that may be necessary,” it added.

Infantino had proposed separating the commercial rights to the World Cup and selling a 20% stake to private investors. The plan was intended to raise about $4.2bn (£3.3bn; R67.87bn), but Fifa reversed its position after widespread criticism.

The proposal included a $20m (£15.8m; R323.5m) payment to each member association during the next funding cycle. That amount could have increased to $40m if associations agreed to the deal.

The investment plan, known as the scrapped Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal, was linked to Thrive Capital, a firm with close family connections to US President Donald Trump. Pragnell said an independent review should examine how the proposal was developed, who was involved and whether Fifa’s decision-making and oversight processes were adequate.

“I think the scope needs to be considered really carefully, but what’s most important is that all confederations should agree on the scope, and it needs to get under way with urgency,” Pragnell said.

The review follows a crisis meeting in Morocco last week, after which Fifa apologised to its 211 member associations for mistakes in the handling of the plan. Fifa also said its leadership had full support for Infantino.

Despite the opposition from Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf, those three confederations represent 136 of the 211 associations that will vote in the presidential election in March next year. Infantino continues to have significant backing elsewhere in world football.

Six Arab football associations, including Qatar and Morocco, one of the co-hosts of the 2030 World Cup, strongly supported the Fifa president on Thursday. They said they valued his “sustained efforts to advance football globally”.

The Confederation of African Football’s executive committee has also unanimously reaffirmed its support for Infantino, although that decision does not guarantee that all 54 African members will vote as a bloc.

Australia, an AFC member, has joined the Asian confederation’s call for an independent review but has not publicly stated whether it supports Infantino’s leadership.

“Based on what we’ve seen, including [Australia’s] commitment to the AFC statement, we’re strongly aligned,” Pragnell said.