The Asian Football Confederation has become the third of FIFA's six continental confederations to oppose the governing body's plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, saying it "stands in solidarity" with UEFA and CONCACAF. In a statement released on Friday, the AFC, whose 47 member associations span the continent from Australia and Japan to China and Saudi Arabia, warned that the proposals could not "realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward".
"The FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle of global football and derives its strength from the participation of all Confederations and the world's leading football nations," the AFC said. "Any proposal that risks undermining the unity and universal character of the competition must be reconsidered."
The intervention piles further pressure on a project championed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The confederation expressed deep concern over the proposed establishment of a $20bn commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, which would run the World Cup and FIFA's other events, although it stopped short of threatening to boycott competitions run by the world governing body. UEFA voted unanimously on Thursday to boycott all FIFA events unless the plans were dropped, while CONCACAF, which governs the game in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has also rejected the proposal.
