GENEVA — Asia's soccer body joined opposition to FIFA's plan for private investors to buy stakes in the World Cup and said on Friday the agency must urgently review its management style.
The Asian Football Confederation said it "stands in solidarity" with European body UEFA and North America's CONCACAF, which on Thursday threatened to boycott FIFA competitions and rejected FIFA President Gianni Infantino's offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation.
"Football should never have been placed in such a position," said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA's 211 member federations that Infantino gave a Sept 19 deadline to accept the $20 million offer.
Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA's commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20 percent owned by private investors.
"(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward" and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.
