NZ withdraws support for Infantino, Oceania backs review of scrapped stake sale plan
MELBOURNE: New Zealand became the latest nation to withdraw its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s reelection bid on Friday over the aborted commercial rights stake sale plan, while Oceania’s confederation cautiously backed the governing body’s leadership. Infantino has faced open revolt after three confederations — UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF (North and Central America) — called for a review of his leadership and attacked his conduct over the plan to bring private investment into FIFA competitions including the World Cup. Infantino will seek reelection for a fourth term in charge of the global governing body at the FIFA Congress next year, with the African and South American confederations declaring their continued support. New Zealand, the only Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) nation to qualify for this year’s World Cup, said it had withdrawn support for Infantino and that the review of the stake sale proposal should be independent due to a loss of confidence and trust in FIFA’s leadership. “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 on Friday. “An independent review is something else that has been called for by other confederations that will help restore some of the trust.” The OFC said in a statement that it welcomed FIFA’s decision to withdraw the proposal and that football in the Oceania region had grown under the current FIFA leadership. “OFC recognizes 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