FIFA Crisis Deepens As New Zealand Withdraws Support For Infantino

New Zealand has broken ranks with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) by withdrawing its support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino ahead of his bid to secure a fourth term in office.

According to IReporter Online, New Zealand Football (NZF) said a series of decisions and actions within FIFA had contributed to declining trust and growing divisions within the international football community.

The football governing body also called for an independent review of the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise Scheme (FFE), a controversial proposal that included plans to sell 20 per cent of the commercial rights to the FIFA World Cup to private investors.

NZF said an independent assessment was necessary to determine how the scheme was developed and to help restore confidence in FIFA’s leadership and decision-making processes.

The organisation argued that the current situation presented an opportunity for FIFA member associations to push for stronger governance, greater accountability and increased transparency in the administration of world football.

Infantino has already suffered opposition from three major regional confederations, including UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF.

However, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and South American football governing body CONMEBOL have continued to support the FIFA president.

New Zealand has also joined several individual football associations, including England, Wales, Norway, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, in declining to back Infantino’s re-election bid.

The development is particularly significant in Oceania because New Zealand is the only one of the region’s 11 member associations to have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

NZF chief executive Andrew Pragnell stressed that the proposed review must be genuinely independent rather than an internal FIFA exercise.

He said the purpose of the review was to ensure that the concerns raised were properly examined and that the process would contribute to rebuilding trust among FIFA members.

Meanwhile, the Oceania Football Confederation has welcomed FIFA’s decision to withdraw the FFE proposal but has stopped short of withdrawing its support for Infantino.

The OFC said it recognised the progress made in football development across Oceania during the past decade under FIFA’s leadership and encouraged the world governing body to use the review process to identify and implement any necessary reforms.

The contrasting positions have highlighted growing differences within the global football leadership as Infantino prepares for another presidential election, with questions over governance, transparency and accountability increasingly dominating discussions ahead of the vote.