New Zealand Withdraws Support for FIFA President Infantino

New Zealand has broken ranks.

As FIFA President Gianni Infantino pushes ahead with his bid for a fourth term, the World Cup co-host from 2023 has pulled its support, deepening the crisis around world football’s most powerful figure.

New Zealand walks away

New Zealand Football confirmed on Friday it no longer backs Infantino’s re-election, pointing directly to the furore over his aborted plan to sell a 20 percent stake in FIFA’s commercial rights to private investors in a deal worth about $4.2bn.

The proposal, which was later withdrawn, had been bundled with a sweetener: a $20m grant for each member association in the next funding cycle, potentially doubling if the deal went through.

For New Zealand, that was not enough to outweigh the damage to trust.

“We’ve called for an independent review specifically because what we don’t want to see is a sort of in-house quick washover of this,” New Zealand Football Chief Executive Andrew Pragnell told Reuters.

“An independent review is something else that has been called for by other confederations that will help restore some of the trust.”

The message is blunt: confidence in FIFA’s leadership has been shaken, and only a fully independent investigation into the scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal will do.

Oceania treads a fine line

The move leaves New Zealand out of step with its own regional confederation.

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) issued a carefully worded statement backing the direction of FIFA under Infantino, even as the global body reels from a rare open revolt.

OFC said it “welcomed” FIFA’s decision to withdraw the commercial rights proposal and stressed the growth of the game in the region during Infantino’s tenure.

“OFC recognises the progress achieved over the last decade in advancing football development in Oceania under FIFA’s leadership and encourages FIFA to use the review as an opportunity to identify and implement any changes that may be necessary,” it said.

So while New Zealand – the only OFC nation to reach this year’s World Cup – is demanding an external investigation, its confederation is effectively urging reform from within.

Infantino under pressure – but not alone

Infantino’s plan to carve off commercial rights, with US firm Thrive Capital reportedly set for a leading role and its close familial links to former US President Donald Trump under scrutiny, triggered a rare and coordinated backlash.

Three powerful confederations – UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF – have called for a review of his leadership and condemned the way the proposal was handled. Together, they represent 136 of FIFA’s 211 member associations, a dominant bloc heading into the presidential vote in March.

The pressure forced a dramatic U-turn. At a crisis meeting in Morocco last week, FIFA apologised to its member associations for “mistakes” in the handling of the plan and insisted its leadership still had full support for Infantino.

Yet the numbers tell a more complicated story.

Africa’s CAF executive committee has unanimously reaffirmed its backing for the Swiss president, though that does not guarantee all 54 African associations will vote as one. South America is also firmly behind him, and six heads of Arab national associations – including Qatar and 2030 World Cup co-host Morocco – publicly “backed” Infantino on Thursday, praising his “sustained efforts to advance football globally”.

The battle lines are drawn: three confederations in open opposition, two major ones in support, and Oceania trying to sit in the middle while its biggest member breaks away.

The review New Zealand wants

For Pragnell and New Zealand Football, the issue now is not just the collapsed deal, but how it ever reached that stage.

He wants an independent review to drill into decision-making and oversight inside FIFA, and to spell out who exactly drove the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal and the role envisaged for Thrive Capital.

“I think the scope needs to be considered really carefully, but what’s most important is that all confederations should agree on the scope, and it needs to get under way with urgency,” Pragnell said.

Australia, another AFC member, has also called for an independent review in line with the Asian bloc’s stance, though it has stopped short of publicly declaring a position on Infantino’s leadership.

“Based on what we’ve seen, including [Australia’s] commitment to the AFC statement, we’re strongly aligned,” Pragnell added, underlining a rare alignment between the two major football nations in the Asia-Pacific.

Infantino will walk into next year’s FIFA Congress with Africa and South America at his back, Europe, Asia and CONCACAF demanding answers, and New Zealand now openly questioning his mandate.

The election is months away. The fight over who controls football’s future has already begun.