Gianni Infantino is facing an ultimatum from European football’s governing body UEFA: resign or face an emergency no-confidence vote.

It is understood all 55 of UEFA’s member nations would opt to oust Infantino in a vote of no confidence if he refuses to step down. UEFA can trigger such a vote with just 43 member nations.

European football’s governing body announced a loss of confidence on Saturday morning and has demanded change after Infantino was forced to scrap his £15bn ($28 billion) plan to sell a stake in the World Cup.

UEFA’s statement followed widespread opposition and a revolt within FIFA’s ranks that staff are calling “kill the monster”. CONCACAF – the governing body that represents North and Central America – also issued a demand for change, saying Infantino was guilty of an “egregious act of poor governance and leadership”.

England’s Football Association backed UEFA’s stance, saying: “We fully support UEFA’s position. It is time for a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently, for the benefit of all 211 member nations and with the long-term stewardship of football at its heart.”

‘We must hold those responsible to account’

In its statement calling for change at the top of FIFA, UEFA said: “We 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. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account.

“It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close co-operation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again.

“That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table. The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.

“When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of FIFA’s member associations to elect him as their president in 2016, he said: ‘Of course we have to be transparent. I have been this in the last 15 years of my life in UEFA. You will have to play a part every day in the life of FIFA,’ before telling the assembled stakeholders, ‘The money of FIFA is your money. It’s not the money of the FIFA president. It’s your money. You are the national associations and the money of FIFA has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else.’

‘The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.’UEFA’s statement on Gianni Infantino

“On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back-room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through were anything but transparent.

“And with reserves standing at over $5bn, he has also failed to use associations’ money for the benefit of the game.

“UEFA will begin work immediately with partners and stakeholders all over the world and right across the game to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.

“We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in FIFA’s bank account to deliver the kick-start that the grassroots and the wider game need in each of the 211 countries of FIFA. But we don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it.

“This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun.”

CONCACAF was just as brutal in its condemnation, saying: “The events of recent days have exposed something that cannot now be set aside: the future of the FIFA World Cup, the greatest asset in world football, was advanced outside every established governance framework, without transparency, consultation or due process.

“A proposal of this magnitude does not reach that stage by accident. It is a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first. This recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour. A full review of this leadership must now take place.”

Infantino did receive support from the Qatar FA on Saturday.

Its president, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, said: “We welcome FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s decision to withdraw the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal in the interest of the global football community.

“While the proposal had merit, we applaud the wisdom behind prioritising unity among Member Associations. The Qatar Football Association fully supports President Infantino’s efforts to continue growing and strengthening the game globally.”

How Infantino’s sell-off turned sour

Infantino drew criticism across the footballing world after it was revealed that he planned to sell 30 per cent of World Cup commercial rights to private investors.

The scheme would have resulted in a group of investors controlling the commercial interests of FIFA’s top men’s and women’s competitions.

UEFA accused FIFA of trying to trade away football’s soul, and on Thursday its 55 member associations, including the English FA, voted 55-0 to boycott the World Cup.

But despite the CONCACAF nations in North and Central America following UEFA’s lead, FIFA had earlier on Friday issued a bullish statement insisting the plan would go ahead and denied it was “selling football”.

However, once the Asian Football Confederation confirmed it, too, would resist the plan, saying it stood “in solidarity with UEFA and CONCACAF to protect the FIFA World Cup”, Infantino was unable to secure more than 50 per cent support from the 211 footballing nations worldwide for his scheme.

The revolt continued to grow on Friday when Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Infantino, resigned in protest against the plan before Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, said staff had been “deceived”.

Further political pressure was applied when Andy Burnham, the UK Prime Minister, called for Infantino to step down and Donald Trump, the US president, a close ally of Infantino’s, revealed he had not been consulted on the plan.

Ashish Prashar, a political strategist with prominent football connections, backed UEFA’s move to oust the FIFA president.

“Infantino co-ordinated an attempt to steal and gut football to line his own pockets. It’s imperative that this is not only stopped but never allowed to rear its ugly head again – starting with the removal of Infantino himself.”

The Telegraph, London