Wales becomes first country to DROP support for Gianni Infantino's re-election as FA blasts 'failures'

Wales has become the first country to publicly pull its support for Gianni Infantino's re-election as Fifa President.

The Welsh FA confirmed just after midnight on Monday it would shelve its backing for the beleaguered football chief over his now-scrapped plans to sell off the World Cup.

In a statement to Sky News, the Welsh FA said it "hereby confirms its withdrawal of support for the candidature of Mr Gianni Infantino, for re-election as FIFA President for the 2027-2031 term".

It continued: "The recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement have led us to a position where Mr Infantino has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the helm of world football.

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"Failing to put the best interests of football first is a failure we cannot accept."

A stream of other FAs are now set to follow Wales in heaping pressure on Mr Infantino to leave - though the Welsh move is significant as they hold one of eight votes on the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which sets the Laws of the Game.

Because they existed before Fifa itself, Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all sit alongside the global body on the board.

While Wales is the first national association to explicitly drop its support for the Fifa boss, European football's governing body Uefa did the same on Saturday.

Uefa branded the arrangement a "shabby back-room deal" as it issued him an ultimatum - to resign, or face an emergency vote of no confidence.

It has been widely reported that all 55 Uefa member nations would choose to oust Mr Infantino if he fails to step down, but the European body can trigger such a vote with just 43 federations.

Uefa also threatened to boycott any future Fifa tournament if the plans went ahead after all its members held crunch crisis talks - the only continental body to do so.

Mr Infantino's plan would have partly left the World Cup in the hands of a consortium fronted by Josh Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law and close ally Jared.

Fifa had tried to convince its 211 member associations to back the creation of the so-called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) - which would also control the rights to tournaments like the Women's World Cup and Club World Cup.

But Uefa, followed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and North America's Concacaf, all voiced fierce opposition to the scheme.

South America's Conmebol has so far asked for "more information" - while Africa and Oceania's governing bodies will be holding talks this week on the matter.

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Mr Infantino on Friday night vowed to carry on in his position, and admitted that his pet project had "created divisions".

Fifa, meanwhile, released a statement saying that the "proposal will not proceed".

As well as football bodies, the plans had sparked a mass political outcry, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham being the first leader of a major country to call on the Fifa boss to go.

"This was an outrageous suggestion," Mr Burnham said. "The idea that it could even be brought forward, in my view, shows that the Fifa [President] is the wrong man to lead the organisation."

Before the Welsh FA issued its statement, Former Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce said he believed Mr Infantino would "still have enough support" to be re-elected but "if things continue at the pace they are continuing, who knows?"

The incumbent boss has been re-elected unopposed two times before, and it was widely expected the same thing would happen again next March.

But on Friday, The i Paper revealed Concacaf chief Victor Montagliani was "making moves" towards challenging Mr Infantino for the top job.

Several influential figures within European football had hoped for Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaifi to stand against Mr Infantino - though he is said not to be interested in the role.

But Mr Montagliani appears set to press ahead.

A source with knowledge of the Concacaf crisis talks told The i there was blanket condemnation for the "sell-out" proposal.

"The sentiment and discussion expressed among the vast majority of Concacaf members is that they are losing confidence, or have lost confidence, in the ability of Gianni Infantino as Fifa president moving forward," the source said.

GB News has approached Fifa for comment.

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