The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) has joined UEFA in rejecting FIFA President Gianni Infantino's proposal to sell a stake in the commercial rights of the FIFA World Cup to private investors, deepening the growing opposition to the plan.
The decision followed a meeting of Concacaf's 41 member associations, which unanimously expressed concerns over the proposal and questioned both the process adopted by FIFA and the rationale for seeking private equity investment.
The latest development came hours after UEFA announced that its 55 member associations had agreed to boycott FIFA competitions, including the men's and women's World Cups, should the proposal proceed.
In a statement issued after its meeting, Concacaf said its members were troubled by what they described as the absence of due process, the short deadline for member associations to respond and the failure to subject the proposal to FIFA's established governance procedures.
The confederation also questioned why FIFA was seeking external investors despite recording record revenues from recent World Cup tournaments and maintaining substantial financial reserves.
As a result, Concacaf said it had rejected the proposal and directed its representatives on the FIFA Council to engage FIFA on alternative ways of increasing funding for football development through the organisation's existing resources.
It also instructed its FIFA Council members to ensure that any future proposals from the world football governing body comply with FIFA's statutes and established governance processes.
Concacaf stressed that football's future should remain under the control of the global football community rather than private investors.
"Football's future, and its greatest asset, must remain in the hands of our football family," the confederation said.
Infantino's proposal involves the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE), a commercial entity through which FIFA would sell an ownership stake to private equity investors in exchange for about $20 billion.
Under the proposal, investors would gain influence over the commercial and broadcasting rights of future World Cups, while FIFA would distribute more than $80 million to each of its 211 member associations over the next 12 years.
The proposal is reportedly backed by an investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
UEFA had earlier described the proposal as unacceptable, arguing that the World Cup should never become a commercial asset controlled by private investors.
The European governing body also criticised FIFA for failing to consult stakeholders before unveiling the plan, describing the process as inconsistent with the principles of transparency and good governance.
It warned that its member associations would not participate in FIFA competitions for as long as the proposal remained on the table, a move that could affect future men's and women's World Cups if the impasse is not resolved.
The opposition from UEFA and Concacaf follows earlier reservations expressed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), whose president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, cautioned that unilateral decisions of such magnitude risk undermining the global football governance system.
With three continental confederations now openly challenging the proposal, pressure is mounting on Infantino to either substantially revise the plan or abandon it altogether as debate intensifies ahead of FIFA's presidential election next year.
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