FIFA president Gianni Infantino's leadership has become "radioactive" and his 10-year reign as head of world football "is over", a former head of IOC marketing told AFP.

Claudius Schaefer, whose organisation represents 53 professional men's and women's football leagues, said there could be "only one consequence" for Infantino after his plan triggered a storm of protest from regional associations.

Political defeats can be overcome. A loss of credibility is far harder to repair.

North and Central American football's governing body CONCACAF on Saturday called for a "comprehensive reckoning with" Gianni Infantino's leadership of FIFA after his aborted plan to allow private investment in the World Cup.

UEFA said it had lost confidence in FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Saturday after world soccer's governing body abandoned plans to sell a stake in the commercial rights to the World Cup.

The Asian Football Confederation said on Saturday it welcomed the scrapping of FIFA's proposal to allow private investment in the World Cup.

After causing a few days of uproar in the footballing community, FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Saturday scrapped the plan to sell stakes to private investors in FIFA-run events, including the World Cup.

Here is a chronological timeline detailing how the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal unfolded, blew up into a global football crisis, and was ultimately killed off in a matter of days.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Saturday he had scrapped a plan to allow private investment in the World Cup following fierce backlash from football officials worldwide.

The answer may arrive sooner than anyone expected.

FIFA is studying whether to expand the World Cup from 48 to 64 teams for the 2030 edition, according to a document seen by Reuters, in a move that could reshape soccer's showpiece tournament when it celebrates its centennial.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) joined UEFA and CONCACAF in condemning world football's governing body FIFA's proposed private investment plan, saying on Friday they were alarmed it had reached the point a "World Cup boycott has entered public discourse".

Just days after the biggest FIFA World Cup in history came to a close, FIFA unveiled a proposal that threatens to alter football's future fundamentally.

UEFA and its 55 member nations voted on Thursday to boycott all FIFA tournaments in protest at the global governing body's plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to external investors.

UEFA's member associations have unanimously voted to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions in protest at FIFA's plan to sell stakes to external investors in a subsidiary that will run the global governing body's tournaments.

World football's governing body said Tuesday it would retain a majority share in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) but hoped to raise $4.2 billion later this year by "carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests".

FIFA said Tuesday it plans to sell a stake in the business operations of the World Cup and its other competitions through the creation of a semi-private subsidiary.

FIFA faced criticism over a number of issues during the tournament, including debate over U.S. visa restrictions affecting supporters and officials from several countries and concerns involving teams from conflict-hit regions.

The FairSquare complaint alleges that Infantino has "repeatedly breached IOC's rules on political neutrality by offering his political support for US president Donald Trump".

If a 48-team tournament is already stretching the finances of participating federations, a longer 64-team event could increase those costs further.