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Former Moroccan midfielder and North Africa director Houssine Kharja has criticized UEFA’s opposition to Gianni Infantino’s policies, arguing that European bodies are panicking over losing their global hegemony and monopoly on talent.
The high-stakes feud follows a scrapped plan for private equity investment in FIFA commercial rights.
FIFA proposed creating a commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to manage events like the World Cup using minority private investment.
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However, UEFA and 55 member nations strongly opposed the commercialization, threatening a broad boycott of FIFA competitions and demanding strict legal preservation of documents.
While non-European confederations like Africa’s CAF have backed Infantino, European resistance remains firm over governance and financial control.
Reacting to the development, Kharja, in a chat with SOCCER212, expressed disappointment that internal disagreements spilled into public media instead of being resolved through closed-door dialogue.
“First of all, we need to look at things in context,” he told SOCCER212. “The president (Infantino) made a proposal for every federation. He presented his vision and each federation had the right to accept it or reject it.”
“The real problem is that Europe feels threatened by this,” Kharja claimed. “They can see football making huge progress in other continents. The real ambition of FIFA and its president is to ensure that football is played and developed in every corner of the world.
“That’s exactly what we saw at this last World Cup. The smaller nations were able to upset the bigger nations,” he said. “That’s the beauty of football. Countries who once thought that competing was a distant dream were able to see that dream become a reality, thanks to the expanded tournament that FIFA introduced.”
“Do you know how many private stakeholders fund the European club leagues alone?” he said. “But nobody asks where that money comes from and it causes no outrage. It is hypocrisy, pure and simple. They want to prevent FIFA from doing the same thing they do themselves.”
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“Europe is simply afraid of losing its dominance of the game,” he said. “The real battle being waged by Europe is aimed at preserving its supremacy. The European authorities, accustomed to ruling over world football as if they were its masters, want to maintain their own monopoly.”
“After everything Infantino has done for the legends of football, I personally find Luis Figo’s involvement absolutely despicable. Let’s not forget the lengths he went to to move from Barcelona to Real Madrid. How dare he talk about money, egotism and dignity? FIFA grants everyone the right to their opinion,” he said. “We will all sit down for the necessary discussions at a time when the FIFA members see fit.
“My wish is for president Ceferin, whom I also respect, to sit down with president Infantino, and for them to settle their differences together. The option of boycotting is clearly not the correct solution. They are two great leaders who need to find a middle ground for the good of football. Football belongs to the whole world.”
