The president of the Czech Football Association, David Trunda, told Sky News on Wednesday that he could see the “positive impact” of Infantino’s plan as well as the “pragmatic benefits for Czech football”. Six of the eight quarter-finalists - including winners Spain - at this summer's World Cup were European. But Czech chief David Trunda, 50, has thrown his support behind Infantino’s outrageous £20million plot to flog the World Cup to private investors. He told Sky News: “I can see the pragmatic benefits for Czech football from working in close co-operation with Gianni Infantino and his team. “Of course we need more details, but my personal point of view is that I can see the positive impact of Fifa’s intentions. “I was elected a little more than a year ago and, for me personally, all the projects I have experienced in co-operation with Fifa have been very positive for the development of European football.”
For Uefa, European football’s governing body, Trunda’s comments are an early blow to their hopes of launching a member-wide boycott of Fifa competitions. In order for a boycott to take place, all 55 Uefa members would unanimously have to agree. It intends to hold an emergency meeting of all 55 members later this week to work on a plan of action.
Gianni Infantino has told the heads of Fifa’s 211 member associations that they could miss out on a $30m payment if they do not back his plan to sell stakes in the World Cup, and has given them just 53 days to decide. On Tuesday, Fifa revealed plans to create a new subsidiary to manage the commercial rights and delivery of the World Cup and other major tournaments, with Infantino confirming that the new company - ‘Fifa Forward Enterprises (FFE)’ - would be open to external capital investment. The letter from Infantino says: ‘The decision on whether or not to proceed with this proposal belongs entirely to you. Should you wish to proceed this $10billion package will become available as of January 1, 2027, ushering in the next phase of our journey together. ‘Should you wish to retain the status quo and reject this proposal we still have our planned expansion of the Forward programme [development money] of $2.7billion as previously presented. ‘In total for the upcoming cycle starting as of January 1, 2027 each member association will have the possibility of access up to $40million per member association under this proposal.’