Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he no longer has confidence in FIFA President Gianni Infantino, arguing that the football chief should step down following the controversy surrounding FIFA’s abandoned commercial investment proposal.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, August 5, Carney criticised Infantino’s handling of the now-shelved FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project, which proposed creating a commercial subsidiary to manage FIFA competitions, including the FIFA World Cup.
Under the proposal, FIFA planned to raise up to $4.2 billion by selling a 20 per cent stake in the subsidiary, valuing the business at approximately $20 billion.
“[FIFA] have their own procedures for making those determinations but certainly I don’t have confidence in Mr. Infantino after this point, given what transpired and given the nature of what transpired,” Carney said.
The proposal attracted strong opposition from several football governing bodies, including UEFA and CONCACAF. UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA competitions if the plan went ahead, while CONCACAF also voiced its opposition.
Carney also referred to the resignation of Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s senior adviser and FIFA’s representative on the White House Task Force for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Carlos Cordeiro is someone I’ve known for more than three decades,” Carney said. “Very high integrity individual and he was [Infantino’s] adviser and had expertise in all the aspects of what was proposed and he was not consulted.”
Questioning FIFA’s governance, the Canadian leader said the handling of the proposal reflected poor leadership.
“This is not how you run any business, a small business, let alone something that is a global responsibility like football,” he said.
Following intense criticism from football associations and stakeholders, Infantino announced that FIFA would abandon the proposal.
Carney, who appeared alongside Infantino during the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico, said the FIFA president had lost his confidence because of the way the matter was handled.
“I’ve run a few organizations in my time. Not to disclose to your closest advisers, your chief operating officer, your fellow board members, something of consequence that you’re even considering, let alone proposing, that should be fatal and you lose confidence in that individual,” he added.