Canada PM Mark Carney joins criticism of FIFA president Gianni Infantino

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is the latest global official to express distrust in FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Carney spoke on Wednesday, August 5 in Toronto during a press conference about affordable housing and was asked about his thoughts on Infantino, who days earlier scrapped a controversial proposal to sell a minority stake in FIFA to private investors. Carney spent time with Infantino this summer, as Canada was a co-host of the World Cup with the United States and Mexico.

"I've run a few organizations in my time. The idea that proper governance is not to disclose to your closest advisors your chief operating officer, your fellow board members something of consequence that you're even considering let alone proposing, that's fatal, should be fatal," he said.

He continued by noting that FIFA has "their own procedures for making those determinations, but certainly I don't have confidence in Mr. Infantino after this point given what transpired and given the nature of what transpired."

Carney pointed to Carlos Cordeiro, a top advisor to Infantino, not being consulted on the deal and resigning after controversy ensued as evidence that the way Infantino is leading FIFA is problematic.

"This is not how you run any business, a small business," he said, "let alone something that is a global responsibility like football."

This World Cup tournament was the largest yet, with a field of 48 teams playing 104 matches in 16 cities across three countries and breaking viewership and attendance records.

The question to Carney was asked in context of United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling out Infantino earlier in the week.

"I do not believe that he is the right man to lead football forward on the world stage," Burnham said at a press conference. "The plan that was put forward was offensive to many people, football people around the world and it can't be the case that we just move on and forget that."

Infantino reportedly called a meeting of FIFA's executives in Morocco this week amid the controversy.

The plan to sell a minority stake in FIFA, called FIFA Forward Enterprise, was met with scathing remarks from Concacaf and UEFA, which said it would boycott all FIFA tournaments. Both organizations expressed concern in the federation's leadership even after the sale was tabled.

Several FIFA executives voiced their displeasure at the idea of selling the organization to raise billions of dollars. FIFA's secretary general Mattias Grafstrom wrote an internal letter that said the project was “a sad and reproachable series of events – which were thankfully concluded with the FFE project permanently abandoned."

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