Following the now cancelled plan to sell minority stakes in the FIFA World Cup to private investors, Gianni Infantino is currently facing the biggest crisis in his term as FIFA president. With the FIFA presidential elections due in 2027, he is under immense scrutiny, with associations like UEFA and CONCACAF expressing distrust in him. The world is now divided, with some member nations standing with, and some against Infantino. Amidst this, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) announced on Friday, August 14, that it supports FIFA’s decision to withdraw the World Cup sell-off plan, this indirectly saying that they support Gianni Infantino. However, the New Zealand Football association has completely deviated from their continental body’s stance.

New Zealand Football has released a statement saying that they have formally withdrawn its support for Gianni Infantino in the next FIFA presidential election. In fact, they have also sought a review for the FIFA Forward Enterprise.

Here is how the statement from NZF read:

New Zealand Football (NZF) today announced that it has formally withdrawn its support for the candidature of Gianni Infantino as FIFA President at the 2027 FIFA Congress.

In addition, NZF is also seeking an independent review of the steps undertaken to develop the FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme.

After careful consideration, NZF has formed the view that decisions and actions within FIFA have contributed to a breakdown in trust and increased division within international football, and that an independent review is required to restore confidence and trust.

NZF believes this point in time represents an opportunity for all FIFA member associations to advocate for stronger governance, accountability and transparency which are fundamental in maintaining confidence of the administration of the global game.

The core of the issue is a canceled proposal known as the FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme. This plan was designed to bring outside, private money into the sport’s biggest competitions like the FIFA World Cup. Under this proposal, each member country was offered a $20 million grant for the upcoming funding cycle. This amount could have been doubled if the countries agreed to sign the deal.

However, the plan devised by Gianni Infantino was deeply unpopular with the majority of the footballing world. Following a massive backlash, FIFA held a crisis meeting in Morocco. During this meeting, FIFA apologized to its 211 member countries for making mistakes in how the financial proposal was handled.