Soccer-New Zealand urges Oceania unity amid 'shock to confidence' in FIFA

New Zealand Football boss Andrew Pragnell urges Oceania's members to unite on the question of Gianni Infantino's leadership following FIFA's scrapped private equity proposal.

New Zealand Football boss ​Andrew Pragnell says FIFA's abandoned private equity proposal delivered a shock ‌to ​confidence in world football's governance, as he urged Oceania's members to be united on the question of Gianni Infantino's leadership.

Several European nations have publicly withdrawn support for Infantino, whose hopes of holding onto the FIFA presidency for a fourth term suffered a major blow following the scrapping of his $4.2-billion ‌proposal to sell a stake in World Cup commercial rights. Infantino has apologised for how the proposal had divided the game.

Oceania's confederation (OFC), which includes New Zealand among its 11 members, has yet to take a position on Infantino's leadership, which could be decided by a vote by FIFA's 211 member associations if an Extraordinary Congress is triggered. Pragnell, who said on Tuesday he would leave his role next year, told Reuters that ‌New Zealand had benefited from FIFA projects under Infantino's leadership and there were "enormous gains" for football associations outside the traditional powerhouses of Europe and South America.

However, he said the way FIFA had ‌handled the proposal had undermined trust and New Zealand Football (NZF) had no qualms about rejecting it, even with the significant hike in funding promised to member associations within it. "If we park the proposal overall, what you've seen from FIFA is enormous commercial growth and increased focus on the redistribution of wealth across all member federations, including some great projects that we've benefited from," he said.

"But the proposal itself, the way in which it was delivered, developed, the way members found out, and ⁠the shock to ​confidence amongst the international football system, has cast a ⁠pretty big shadow." He also questioned why FIFA needed to raise money from private investment given its strong financial position.

"It is unusual to do a capital raise like that when capital is not your issue," he said. "One of the biggest questions ⁠was valuation, how that had been undertaken, and where we are in terms of forecast valuations of the total equity of all the competitions.

"If that value is only set to rise, you're ultimately selling the global game at ​a much lower value than it could be worth in the future." New Zealand is Oceania's most dominant force on the playing field.

The nation enjoyed FIFA's support in winning co-hosting rights ⁠with Australia for the last Women's World Cup in 2023, while the governing body's decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams has been a huge boost. New Zealand previously had to go through intercontinental playoffs to qualify for World Cups but are ⁠now ​virtually assured a place as Oceania's strongest team, given the region gets one automatic berth to the 48-team tournament.

'GOVERNANCE IS GOVERNANCE' While New Zealand has enjoyed significant support from FIFA, Pragnell said they were far from beholden to the governing body and pointed to the country's opposition to FIFA inviting Saudi sponsorship of the Women's World Cup.

"It's alright to acknowledge that positive work (of FIFA), but governance is ⁠governance," he said. "As members, we are effectively the shareholders of the game and the future of the game."

While UEFA and CONCACAF have said they had lost confidence in FIFA's leadership, Pragnell said ⁠New Zealand would consult with the OFC and other ⁠regional confederations before adopting a position. He said it would be preferable for Oceania's member nations to be aligned on the matter but conceded unity might prove elusive.

"There's obviously more power in numbers .... Certainly it helps when a confederation acts in unison," he said. "You've seen in some confederations, even in the ‌last week, members go different ways ‌from other members.

"At the end of the day, the independence of each member association is respected as ​well."