PARIS, France (AFP) — 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”.

A damaging blow to FIFA president Gianni Infantino came with the later resignation of a senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro, who issued an excoriating statement.

“As a senior advisor to the FIFA president, a former banker, and a lifelong football fan, I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” wrote Cordeiro, a former head of the US Soccer Federation.