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The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has broken ranks with CONCACAF to publicly back FIFA President Gianni Infantino, becoming the only member of the North and Central America confederation to support him amid a dispute over plans to sell a stake in the World Cup.
In a statement released Thursday, the 2026 World Cup co-hosts said it “supports President Infantino’s leadership in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening”.
The FMF added that it “will neither recognise nor approve any process convened outside of that institutional framework” and joined Infantino’s call “to collectively continue developing football for the benefit of the 211 member associations”.
The move puts Mexico at odds with CONCACAF, which met earlier and rejected Infantino’s proposal to sell a minority stake in future World Cup commercial rights through a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprise.
In a statement, CONCACAF said its 41 members “expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies”.
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The confederation, which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico, stopped short of UEFA’s threat of a boycott but made clear it opposed the plan.
Infantino scrapped the proposal last Friday after severe criticism from UEFA and CONCACAF.
Mexico is seemingly the only CONCACAF member to stand in solidarity with the president, who is up for reelection for a final term next March.
FMF’s position echoed an elder statement from CONMEBOL, which said it rejected any attempt to oust Infantino that did not involve a vote of all 211 FIFA members.
The FMF added that “football is of fundamental value” and that “the best defense lies in the institutional integrity and respect of the governance and the processes that they protect”.
