India, Aug. 1 -- Gianni Infantino is facing the most serious threat to his decade-long reign as FIFA president after UEFA publicly declared that the current leadership of world football's governing body had lost its confidence. The extraordinary intervention came after Infantino was forced to abandon a controversial proposal to sell private investors a stake in FIFA's competitions, including the men's and women's World Cups.

While UEFA stopped short of directly demanding Infantino's resignation, it called for a "thorough and fundamental" review into how the proposal had been developed and declared that "no option should be off the table".

"The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other member...