UEFA on Saturday said FIFA's current leadership has lost the confidence of much of the football community, while welcoming the world governing body's decision to withdraw controversial plans to sell a stake in its competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, to private investors.

"The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family,” UEFA, European football’s governing body, said in a statement.

UEFA added that the proposal had been "unanimously rejected" by its member associations as well as by “many other federations and confederations of all sizes around the world.”

The organization thanked fans, leagues, clubs, players, national associations and confederations, as well as political leaders and commentators, for opposing the proposal and showing FIFA President Gianni Infantino that “football is not for sale.”

The organization criticized the process behind the proposal, saying football “cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game.”

UEFA also said Infantino had failed to deliver on commitments he made when seeking election in 2016, including promises of transparency and using FIFA's financial resources for the development of football.

The organization said it would begin working "in the coming days and weeks" with its member associations and other football confederations to examine how the proposal emerged and devise measures to ensure it does not occur again.

"That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table," UEFA said.

"This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story," it added.

"The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun." (AA)

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