Fifa president Gianni Infantino faces widespread criticism after the organisation announced it is seeking private investment worth more than £7.5bn in the World Cup and its other competitions. The proposals, aimed at what Fifa describes as expanding "football development funding", have provoked accusations from Uefa that the organisation is enriching itself and its allies, marking a stark contrast with Infantino's 2016 pledge to clean up Fifa's finances and ensure the game's money is used for football rather than personal gain.

Uefa, Concacaf and the FA are among the bodies to have strongly condemned the plans, with Uefa's 55 member associations set to hold an emergency meeting at which a boycott of the World Cup could reportedly be discussed. Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter also weighed in, warning that turning Fifa into a profit-driven corporate structure would strip football of its soul, while Infantino's original promise to tackle a $550m (£414m) financial shortfall without treating Fifa's money as his own is now being sharply contrasted with the scale of the proposed sell-off.