• Challenger’s identity could be approved by next week

• Arsène Wenger not thought to have entered reckoning

Uefa and its allies are close to identifying a candidate to run against Gianni Infantino in the Fifa election and could select the challenger as early as next week.

The clock is ticking on efforts to oppose Infantino in March, with candidates required to confirm they are standing by 18 November, but there is growing confidence those attempts are nearing a successful resolution. Discussions with potential nominees have gained momentum despite recent setbacks that included a U-turn by the Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, who surprisingly endorsed Infantino’s push for a fourth term.

• LA and San Diego among favoured host cities for 2028

• Tournament would include nineteen teams

The United States is poised to host the first Women’s Club World Cup in January 2028, becoming the latest in a series of major Fifa tournaments staged in North America. Discussions to take the competition to the US are at an advanced stage, with Los Angeles and San Diego among the favoured host cities.

It will follow the men’s tournament, whose expanded version debuted last year, in being staged by a country that also hosted the men’s World Cup this summer.

• Payout of at least $10m to each association proposed

• Leaders want plan to be considered by Fifa Council

The presidents of Uefa and Concacaf have written to Gianni Infantino requesting that Fifa release money from its $6bn (£4.5bn) reserves to its member associations, stating that the plan to fund them via the doomed Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme was unnecessary given the cash pile it is sitting on.

Aleksander Ceferin and Victor Montagliani proposed a payout of at least $10m to each of Fifa’s 211 member associations (MAs), initially as a one-off during the 2027-2030 commercial cycle. They called for an independent review of Fifa’s financial position and said their own study “raises an important question as to whether the proposed transaction was necessary to deliver greater resources to the MAs”.

• Uefa has received guarantees after ill-fated Infantino plan

• European sides will go to under-20 Women’s World Cup

Uefa is to drop its threatened boycott of Fifa competitions after receiving concrete guarantees that the global governing body will never attempt a repeat of Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup.

European teams have been cleared for participation in the upcoming Under-20 Women’s World Cup, along with subsequent tournaments, after Fifa provided the binding assurances that no equivalent of its president’s ill-fated scheme will be put on the table.

• Confederations write open letter damning Fifa president

• Concacaf president Montagliani seen as top contender

Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.

In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details emerged of the Fifa president’s failed Football Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, the three governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception” and condemned his failure to acknowledge that the proposal should not have been unilaterally launched.

• European body says Fifa statement ‘changes nothing’

• Fifpro condemns ‘profound abuse of presidential power’

Uefa has doubled down on its threat to boycott Fifa-run competitions and reiterated its loss of confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency.

The latest damning intervention from European football’s governing body came as criticism of Infantino continued to rain in from several angles. The global players’ union, Fifpro, condemned “a profound abuse of presidential power” while the South American confederation, Conmebol, usually a strong Infantino ally, was moved to chastise “repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue”.

• FA no longer endorses Fifa president for re-election

• Wales and Serbia join Finland in withdrawing backing

European countries began turning their backs on Gianni Infantino as moves intensified across the globe to end his crisis-hit tenure as Fifa president.

The Football Association was the highest-profile of several Uefa member associations to drop its support for Infantino’s proposed re-election next year. It will write to Fifa confirming it no longer endorses Infantino for a fourth term in charge after the intense controversy surrounding his failed plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors.

• European nations to withdraw letters of support for Fifa president

• Appetite to ensure Infantino is quickly removed from post

European countries are planning to increase the pressure on Gianni Infantino with a mass withdrawal of letters supporting his re-election as Fifa president.

Infantino’s reign is in severe peril after the collapse of his privately backed scheme to sell off chunks of the World Cup, which was largely scuppered when Uefa member associations threatened to boycott future Fifa competitions. The mood remains febrile and there is a widespread appetite around Europe to ensure that he is quickly removed from his post.

• Cordeiro quits as senior adviser to Fifa president

• Lamour: sell-off plan ‘defies belief and imagination’

The walls started closing in on Gianni Infantino after another dramatic day that saw one of his senior advisers resign and brought a scathing rebuke from Fifa’s own chief operating officer.

Infantino is under huge pressure after his plan to sell chunks of the World Cup to private investors met a tide of opposition from around the globe. European countries have already promised to boycott Fifa competitions if he does not shelve the scheme but Friday’s developments, which led to two key members of his inner circle distancing themselves from him, may prove equally damaging to any prospects of salvaging his presidency.

Emerging from this week with unity over Fifa’s World Cup sell off was quite an acheivement but Europe cannot rest on its laurels

It was a phrase not always heard when Europe’s football associations discuss a pressing issue. “Touchingly unanimous,” was the assessment of a senior Uefa executive within moments of Thursday afternoon’s seismic decision to boycott Fifa tournaments unless Gianni Infantino scraps his private investment plan. United fronts on this scale are vanishingly rare and there is now a narrow window in which to make it count.

Fifa doubled down on its proposal overnight with “clarifications”, which blamed the media for disrupting the “consultation process” of a scheme that had been constructed under cloak and dagger. There was no suggestion that it would shift from its 19 September deadline to in effect ram the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal through. Anyone would be forgiven for asking what the rush was but Uefa and its allies must not allow the next seven weeks to drag.

• Uefa agrees stance at emergency meeting on Thursday

• Boycott would begin with Under-20 Women’s World Cup

European countries have agreed to boycott all Fifa competitions if Gianni Infantino pushes forward with his proposals to sell chunks of the World Cup to US-based private investment.

In an extraordinary development all 55 Uefa members resolved not to participate in future World Cups or other Fifa-run events, saying in a statement that they “unanimously and unequivocally reject” the proposals. An emergency meeting that lasted just short of two hours ended with a united front despite earlier fears that smaller countries, attracted by the money on offer through Infantino’s scheme, would be swayed in favour.

• Hospitality and secondary ticket market help fuel rise

• Gianni Infantino will feel this shores up his position

Fifa will announce record $15bn (£11.2bn) revenues from this summer’s World Cup, significantly exceeding the targets set before the tournament.

Fifa’s member associations were informed of the boost in income by Gianni Infantino on Saturday. Originally the governing body had projected $11bn in earnings. Sources have indicated that hospitality and ticketing, especially through the steeply priced secondary market, account for a significant amount of the increase. Fifa takes 15% from the buyer and another 15% from the seller on the secondary market.

• Only a handful of FAs have not declared their support

• Uefa has made its opposition clear on number of issues

Gianni Infantino has the formal endorsement of more than 200 Fifa members for re-election as the body’s president despite the climate of unrest that has swirled since the scandal surrounding Folarin Balogun’s reprieve from suspension.

The Guardian understands only a handful of Fifa’s 211 member associations are still to send letters of support for Infantino, who is on course to be voted into a fourth term by a landslide at its congress in March. A small number of European associations are among the outliers, with Germany the highest-profile FA yet to provide official backing.

• Host countries limited to five ‘foreign’ matches a season

• Bar raised for clearance and Fifa would have right of veto

Domestic leagues would be limited to staging one game a season in foreign countries under Fifa proposals that significantly raise the bar for controversial “international matches” to be approved.

A new protocol, developed by a Fifa working group set up almost two years ago, would bring in clearer regulations to police the divisive issue and introduce strict limits.

• Trial planned from 2027, potentially in big Asian market

• Uefa rejects call to end league phase ‘country protection’

Uefa hopes to follow in the Premier League’s footsteps and trial a new direct-to-consumer streaming service for Champions League matches in the next television rights cycle.

If implemented successfully the trial could pave the way for games to be streamed more widely via a dedicated platform. Discussions are in their early stages and it is unclear whether the service would be offered free of charge. A major Asian market such as Indonesia or India could be an attractive starting point for UC3, the joint venture set up by Uefa and European Football Clubs (EFC) to manage their competitions’ commercial rights, as it seeks to determine the project’s viability.

• Clubs who did not play are to get solidarity payments

• No formula determined for dividing the money

Frustration is growing among clubs globally at the extended wait for £185m of solidarity payments promised by Fifa on the back of last summer’s Club World Cup.

Clubs that did not participate in the tournament were promised a share of the sum, designed to ensure a proportion of the event’s funding was distributed throughout the football pyramid. If shared equally it would amount to about £50,000 for every top-flight club in the world but, more than seven months after the Club World Cup’s conclusion, there is no sign of the money and no timescale for its distribution. The Guardian understands Fifa is yet to determine how the money will be allocated.