What began with Gianni Infantino’s ill-conceived plan to sell off a share of the rights to future World Cups to a private investment group, linked to US President Donald Trump, has now escalated to the point where football is threatening to tear itself apart.
UEFA, the first football confederation to openly attack Infantino, has issued a strongly worded statement, together with the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF accusing FIFA of a breach of trust and a failure to consult its stakeholders. They have essentially made it clear that the role of football’s governing body is to act as custodians of the sport, and anything else is beyond their remit.
And now it has emerged that The European Football Clubs group, which represents more than 800 clubs, threatened to boycott future editions of the Club World Cup unless FIFA abandoned its Football Forward Enterprise scheme and returned to a more collaborative relationship with the clubs.
They have also indicated that they may suspend the accord which forces them to release their players for international duty.
The clubs also complained about delays in distributing around £185 million in solidarity payments linked to previous Club World Cups.
Meanwhile, New Zealand has broken ranks with the rest of the Oceania Football Confederation, and has become the latest country to publicly oppose Infantino remaining as FIFA president.
What began as a European revolt has now escalated into something different, with individual confederations and national associations now pitted against each other.
Infantino still retains the support of Africa and South American, and those smaller football associations who are dependent on FIFA for big pay-outs.
And given that he is showing not the slightest sign of contrition, and has blamed the collapse of the Football Forward Enterprise scheme on poor communication and not the fundamental unsoundness of the original plan, then he is unlikely to resign.
It may, therefore, come down to who blinks first.
Ultimately, the power lies with Europe. They have the biggest clubs, and stars, and they know that without them and their national teams, any competitions, like the World Cup or the Club World Cup, will be meaningless.
Unfortunately, the sport may be dragged through the mud for a while longer until that reality finally sinks in with those that matter.
