Mexico breaks with Concacaf to publicly back Gianni Infantino
On 7 August 2026 the Mexican Football Federation publicly declared its support for Fifa president Gianni Infantino, breaking with regional body Concacaf amid controversy over his aborted plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
Concacaf had called for a "comprehensive reckoning" of Infantino's presidency after the proposal was withdrawn, while the FMF issued a statement backing his leadership. "The FMF [Mexican FA] supports president Infantino's leadership in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening," the FMF said. It added: "The FMF will neither recognise nor approve any process convened outside of that institutional framework, and it joins the call made by president Infantino to collectively continue developing football for the benefit of the 211 member associations."
The FMF statement echoed a Conmebol position that any attempt to remove Infantino should not proceed without a vote involving all 211 Fifa members. Conmebol did, however, "express its concern about the repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue or the institutional mechanisms provided for dealing with this type of situation".
Argentina's football association, whose team finished runners-up at the 2026 World Cup, praised Infantino for recognising and apologising for his "errors" and described his decade-long presidency as "centred on the development of soccer worldwide and institutional strength based on a clear, stable, and transparent governance model".
Infantino has unanimous backing from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) but faces opposition from Uefa and Concacaf. Uefa said its conditions for avoiding a boycott "have not been met" and added: "Assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again." Uefa has also described the Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal as a "shabby, back room, opaque deal" and stated it has lost confidence in Infantino.
Several individual associations have withdrawn their support for Infantino, with the English FA sending a letter formally withdrawing backing and Wales, Albania and Croatia among others turning their backs on him. Before Infantino withdrew the proposal, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said it stood "in solidarity" with Uefa and Concacaf in opposing the plans.
Infantino had offered all member associations $40m (£30m) if they supported private investment in tournaments via the FFE subsidiary. At a meeting of Fifa executives in Morocco on Wednesday, the world governing body said "mistakes" regarding FFE were "acknowledged", adding that it was "not the intention" for the Fifa Council and members association to "feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently". Uefa's response added: "Uefa made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino's presidency. That position holds. "Yesterday's announcement that some people employed by the Fifa president (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing." Fifa has been approached for comment.
Despite the withdrawal of the investment plan, Uefa warned that European teams could still boycott the World Cup because its conditions "have not been met", leaving the prospect of continental action on the issue unresolved.
