Uefa will continue efforts to remove Gianni Infantino as Fifa president despite abandoning its threat to boycott international competitions.
Europe’s 55 member associations, together with its representatives on the Fifa Council, will be shown a letter on Thursday guaranteeing that the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan will not be revived.
Uefa’s executive committee is expected to formally end the boycott at its meeting in Monaco. That move will meet the organisation’s demands and allow next week’s Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland to proceed with all six qualified European teams.
However, BBC Sport understands Uefa believes it can find a unity candidate to challenge Infantino when he seeks re-election in March.
A candidate requires the support of 106 of Fifa’s 211 member associations to win. The election is expected to be close, although Uefa has abandoned the idea of trying to force a vote of no confidence in the current president.
Such a motion would need the backing of three-quarters of Fifa’s membership – 159 associations – a threshold regarded as unrealistic.
No challenger has yet been formally identified, but Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is viewed as a serious possibility. Candidates must submit their nominations by 18 November.
Even if Infantino wins what is expected to be a tight contest, BBC Sport understands Uefa believes the result could seriously weaken his position. A narrow victory, it is thought, could cause terminal damage to his presidency by compromising his legitimacy.
Last month, all 55 European member associations voted to boycott Fifa competitions unless the FFE proposal was withdrawn “in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that Fifa will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership”.
With the boycott now being withdrawn, Fifa said it was “pleased that all qualified teams will be participating in the upcoming Under-20 Women’s World Cup”.
England, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and hosts Poland are the six European teams scheduled to compete in the tournament.
A Fifa spokesperson said it “strongly believes that football has the power to unite, even in challenging circumstances” and that Fifa “remains committed” to developing the game in “full dialogue with the confederations and stakeholders”.
Former players split over Infantino
The dispute has also divided a group of former international players.
On Tuesday, former players published a statement declaring that “change is necessary” at the top of Fifa. A day earlier, former Manchester United and France defender Mikael Silvestre, a member of Fifa’s Players’ Voice Panel, had released a statement on X titled “Enough is Enough!”.
That message has been shared on social media by England defender Lucy Bronze, France’s 1998 World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit and former England goalkeeper David James.
But on Wednesday, another group of former players issued messages supporting Infantino. The group included World Cup-winning Brazil captain Cafu, former Italy striker Christian Vieri, former Portugal captain Pepe and ex-Argentina international Esteban Cambiasso.
All are officially recognised by Fifa as so-called Fifa Legends.
Vieri’s statement said: “Over the past 10 years, we have seen the work Fifa and President Infantino have done to create representativity for players in football, which did not exist.
“We will remain available to support the great evolution our game has seen this past decade, so that it keeps reaching and benefiting people of every country that plays football all around the world.”
