Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared on Wednesday that he no longer has confidence in FIFA President Gianni Infantino, delivering a sharp rebuke over the secretive handling of a now-abandoned plan to open the World Cup to private investors. “Certainly I don’t have confidence in Mr. Infantino, after this point, given what transpired,” Carney told reporters in Toronto, adding that the failure to disclose the proposal to senior advisers was “fatal” and “not how you run any business … let alone something that is a global responsibility like football.” The prime minister, who attended matches with Infantino during the recently concluded 2026 World Cup co-hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico, also praised the FIFA president’s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, as “a very high integrity individual” he has known for over three decades.

The controversy stems from Infantino’s proposal to create a commercial subsidiary, the FIFA Forward Enterprise, to manage the World Cup and other tournaments, effectively selling a stake in the sport’s most lucrative asset. The plan, reportedly worth $20 billion, was kept secret from senior FIFA staff, including chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who later said staff felt “deceived” by a “project of one person.” The backlash was swift and sweeping: UEFA, European football’s governing body, said it had lost confidence in FIFA’s leadership, while CONCACAF, representing North and Central America and the Caribbean, accused the leadership of having “stopped putting football first.” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham also questioned Infantino’s leadership, calling the plan “offensive to many people.” The proposal collapsed after UEFA’s 55 member nations agreed to boycott FIFA competitions, and the Asian Football Confederation also opposed it. Infantino abandoned the plan last Friday evening.

The internal revolt was triggered by the resignation of Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, who urged other senior staff to speak out. Hours later, COO Lamour issued a statement saying staff had been deceived by Infantino’s lack of openness. Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England, said the episode was “not how you run any business, a small business, let alone something that is a global responsibility like football.”

Infantino held a crisis meeting with senior FIFA officials in Morocco on Wednesday, widely seen as an effort to shore up support for his re-election bid. The next FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 2027 in Rabat, Morocco, and Infantino is currently the only declared candidate. However, four European federations — Finland, Wales, Serbia, and Sweden — have already withdrawn their support. The growing chorus of criticism, from within FIFA and from world leaders, has left his tenure facing an unprecedented threat as the election in Rabat next March looms as a decisive test of his ability to survive the crisis.