Rome, Aug. 1 (LaPresse) – “The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s trust, but also that of many other members of the football family.” UEFA said this in a lengthy statement welcoming FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s U-turn on the project that envisaged the sale of an approximately 20% stake to private investors. “When Gianni Infantino asked FIFA’s National Associations for their trust and votes to elect him President in 2016, he said: ‘Of course we have to be transparent. I have been transparent for the last 15 years of my life at UEFA. You will have to play an active role every day in FIFA’s life’, before telling those present: ‘FIFA’s money is your money. It is not the FIFA President’s money. It is your money. You are the national associations and FIFA’s money must serve the development of football and nothing else.’ On both of these promises, he failed to keep his word. The sordid, secret and non-transparent agreement he devised and attempted to impose was anything but transparent,” UEFA stressed again. “And, despite reserves amounting to more than 5 billion dollars, he has failed to use the associations’ funds for the benefit of football. UEFA will immediately begin working with partners and stakeholders across the world and throughout the football community to propose a new way of distributing resources through the current FIFA Forward programme. We must start using part of those funds sitting unused in FIFA’s bank account to provide the necessary boost to grassroots and football in general in each of FIFA’s 211 member countries. But we must not sell off the family silver to do so,” UEFA explained. “This is a victory for the entire football world. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has been withdrawn. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun,” concluded European football’s governing body.
Soccer, UEFA: “Infantino failed to keep promises, we have lost our trust”
Rome, Aug. 1 (LaPresse) – “The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s trust, but also that of many other members of the football family.” UEFA said this in a lengthy statement welcoming FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s U-turn on the project that envisaged the sale of an approximately 20% stake to private investors. “When Gianni Infantino asked FIFA’s National Associations for their trust and votes to elect him President in 2016, he said: ‘Of course we have to be transparent. I have been transparent for the last 15 years of my life at UEFA. You will have to play an active role every day in FIFA’s life’, before telling those present: ‘FIFA’s money is your money. It is not the FIFA President’s money. It is your money. You are the national associations and FIFA’s money must serve the development of football and nothing else.’ On both of these promises, he failed to keep his word. The sordid, secret and non-transparent agreement he devised and attempted to impose was anything but transparent,” UEFA stressed again. “And, despite reserves amounting to more than 5 billion dollars, he has failed to use the associations’ funds for the benefit of football. UEFA will immediately begin working with partners and stakeholders across the world and throughout the football community to propose a new way of distributing resources through the current FIFA Forward programme. We must start using part of those funds sitting unused in FIFA’s bank account to provide the necessary boost to grassroots and football in general in each of FIFA’s 211 member countries. But we must not sell off the family silver to do so,” UEFA explained. “This is a victory for the entire football world. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has been withdrawn. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun,” concluded European football’s governing body.
