Canada Soccer has joined a growing bloc of football organizations demanding greater transparency and stronger governance at FIFA after the governing body abandoned a controversial proposal to sell a 20% stake in a new commercial entity holding World Cup rights to private investors.
The development follows a joint open letter issued Monday by the presidents of UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Concacaf. The three confederations accused FIFA leadership of a serious breach of trust, saying the proposed transaction was pursued without adequate consultation with the football community and represented a profound failure of judgment.
Canada Soccer’s position brings it into alignment with U.S. Soccer and other Concacaf members calling for an independent third-party examination of how the proposal was developed and handled, as well as reforms aimed at improving FIFA’s transparency, accountability and governance. Reuters reported Monday that both U.S. Soccer and Canada Soccer were among the national associations pressing for governance changes.
A $4.2 billion proposal that collapsed within days
The controversy centres on FIFA Forward Enterprise, a proposed commercial vehicle through which FIFA sought to raise about $4.2 billion by selling approximately 20% to private investors. The proposed transaction valued the entity at roughly $20 billion.
The proposal triggered an unusually swift backlash from football’s regional governing bodies. On July 30, all 55 UEFA member associations backed a position threatening a boycott of FIFA competitions if the plan proceeded. Concacaf’s 41 member associations separately rejected the proposal and instructed their FIFA Council representatives to insist that major decisions follow FIFA’s established governance procedures.
FIFA abandoned the plan on July 31. President Gianni Infantino said the project had generated divisions that meant it was no longer serving its intended objective. The following week, FIFA apologized to its member associations for mistakes surrounding the proposal after an emergency leadership meeting in Morocco, while its leadership simultaneously reaffirmed support for Infantino.
Confederations say the issue goes beyond the failed dealI
The latest open letter shifts the dispute from the financial proposal itself to the broader question of who should control football’s commercial and strategic future.
UEFA, AFC and Concacaf said leadership of football should be understood as a duty of service, rather than the exercise or accumulation of power. They called for a fully independent review—one in which FIFA itself would have no role—to establish how the proposal came about and why the decision-making process failed.
The confederations also criticized the FIFA crisis meeting in Morocco, arguing that elected football officials and member associations were insufficiently represented. The criticism comes as divisions over Infantino’s leadership deepen ahead of FIFA’s next presidential election.
The three confederations have also maintained pressure on FIFA by warning that guarantees must be provided against similar attempts to commercialize or privatize major football properties in the future. UEFA had already threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions during the dispute.
Canada adds its voice
Canada’s involvement carries particular weight because Canada co-hosted the 2026 World Cup with the United States and Mexico and is a full FIFA member association within Concacaf. The Canadian government’s position has also hardened. Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week that he had lost confidence in Infantino, describing the failure to consult senior FIFA officials and board members over the proposed transaction as a potentially fatal governance failure.
Canada Soccer’s support for an independent review therefore places the Canadian federation alongside U.S. Soccer and other North and Central American and Caribbean football bodies seeking institutional changes rather than simply the withdrawal of the abandoned investment proposal.