New Zealand urges Oceania unity amid 'shock to confidence' in FIFA

MELBOURNE, Aug 4 : New Zealand Football boss Andrew Pragnell says FIFA's abandoned private equity proposal delivered a shock to confidence in world football's governance, as he urged Oceania's members to be united on the question of Gianni Infantino's leadership.

Several European nations have publicly withdrawn support for Infantino, whose hopes of holding onto the FIFA presidency for a fourth term suffered a major blow following the scrapping of his $4.2-billion proposal to sell a stake in World Cup commercial rights.

Infantino has apologised for how the proposal had divided the game.

Oceania's confederation (OFC), which includes New Zealand among its 11 members, has yet to take a position on Infantino's leadership, which could be decided by a vote by FIFA's 211 member associations if an Extraordinary Congress is triggered.

Pragnell, who said on Tuesday he would leave his role next year, told Reuters that New Zealand had benefited from FIFA projects under Infantino's leadership and there were "enormous gains" for football associations outside the traditional powerhouses of Europe and South America.

However, he said the way FIFA had handled the proposal had undermined trust and New Zealand Football (NZF) had no qualms about rejecting it, even with the significant hike in funding promised to member associations within it.

"If we park the proposal overall, what you've seen from FIFA is enormous commercial growth and increased focus on the redistribution of wealth across all member federations, including some great projects that we've benefited from," he said.

"But the proposal itself, the way in which it was delivered, developed, the way members found out, and the shock to confidence amongst the international football system, has