'He's overplayed his hand': Dutch FA president calls for leadership amid FIFA crisis

[p]Infantino created the FIFA Forward Enterprise with American bank J.P. Morgan Chase to generate billions in revenue for FIFA, which is a foundation and therefore cannot book profits.[/p][p]All 55 UEFA members were called together in an emergency meeting on Thursday. The members [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/uefa-members-to-unanimously-boycott-fifa-world-cup-in-protest-over-investment-plans/OA3XuUjS/"]unanimously voted for a total boycott of all FIFA tournaments[/a] as long as Infantino's proposal is on the table.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/netherlands/WYintcWb/"]KNVB[/a] president Frank Paauw stated that the UEFA associations stood for "the soul of football" by boycotting the World Cup and other tournaments.[/p][p][b]"This proposal is flawed in terms of process, governance and content. The proposal must be withdrawn. Until it is withdrawn, none of the 55 UEFA member nations will take part in FIFA competitions," [/b]Paauw told [i][b][a href="https://nos.nl/artikel/2624988-knvb-voorzitter-over-boycot-fifa-toernooien-we-staan-voor-de-ziel-van-het-voetbal"]NOS[/a][/b][/i] after the meeting.[/p][embed guid="ecd7851d-3b98-4d61-a393-8885e48b741b" url="https://x.com/Flashscorecom/status/2082851578969530835?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"You can’t just sell everything off. That seems to be what’s happening here now, with the sale of the rights and everything else that goes with them to private equity firms."[/b][/p][p]With Infantino's FIFA Forward Enterprise, a company valued at $20 billion, the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments would be hosted by a group of private investors, among whom is Josh Kushner, brother of the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.[/p][p][b]"It is the combination of factors that has led us to make this statement, and I reckon there’s little chance of us backing down. If we did, we’d be worthless. It’s truly unique that UEFA has acted with such unanimity in recent years," [/b]he told [a href="https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/knvb-voorzitter-paauw-er-moet-nu-eindelijk-leiderschap-getoond-worden"][i][b]VI[/b][/i][/a].[/p][h2]'Everyone was unanimous'[/h2][p]Gianni Infantino offered every favourable football association $40 million in financial support in an attempt to sway the vote. Paauw said that the European associations united in their approach to this proposal.[/p][p][b]"Everything has its price, but that was the beauty of today’s meeting. There are some very wealthy associations and some small ones. Everyone was unanimous in their view that money does not take precedence over the interests of football itself," [/b]Paauw continued to NOS.[/p][p]Whether or not this will be the end of Gianni Infantino, Paauw said it'd have to be discussed at a later stage. The president of the Dutch FA was rather certain about one thing: [b]"I'm afraid he (Infantino) has overplayed his hand."[/b][/p][p]Getting the enterprise plan off the table is not the solution to all of the problems at FIFA, Paauw continued to VI.[/p][p][b]"That’s not the end of it: the next question is how things could have got this far. We at the KNVB believe that a line has been crossed here, that the interests of football are being sacrificed for commercial interests. It is high time that some leadership was shown."[/b][/p]