Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has welcomed FIFA's decision to withdraw its plan to sell stakes in the World Cup, emphasizing that any similar moves in the future must be discussed transparently.
Earlier, FIFA had proposed raising up to $4.2 billion by selling about 20% of shares to private investors in a new unit dedicated to managing FIFA's tournaments, including the World Cup.
The proposal, first announced on Tuesday, met with strong opposition from regional confederations, including the AFC, which said it had been caught off guard by the announcement.
Following the backlash, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the world football governing body had scrapped the plan after listening “carefully to all viewpoints.”
In a letter posted on the AFC's website on Saturday, Sheikh Salman said he expects “any potential initiative that could impact global football to be presented and discussed with the regional confederations, the FIFA Council, member associations, and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent, and meaningful manner.”
“The future of global football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue, and respect for the established governance structures of the game,” he stressed.
On Thursday, in a letter to member associations, Sheikh Salman had described the way FIFA made the proposal as “completely unacceptable.”
The AFC, based in Kuala Lumpur, is one of FIFA's six regional confederations, overseeing club and national team competitions across Asia, the Middle East, and Australia.
