Gianni Infantino has apologized for what he called errors in his controversial and now-abandoned plan to sell stakes in FIFA competitions to private investors, but will remain FIFA president after receiving the backing of senior executives during a meeting in Morocco, according to the BBC.
Infantino summoned members of FIFA’s management board to the organization’s Africa office in Rabat on Wednesday, following mounting criticism of the scrapped proposal. FIFA released a statement of support roughly four hours after the meeting concluded.
Over the weekend, UEFA said it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership, describing the plan to create a subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise as a shabby, back-room, opaque deal. Much of the criticism has come from within FIFA itself, including from Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom, who attended Wednesday’s meeting and had written in an internal memo to staff Tuesday that the situation amounted to a sad and reproachable series of events.
Despite that, Grafstrom and the rest of the management board reaffirmed their full support for Infantino as president following the meeting.
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Infantino and Grafstrom also sent a signed letter, seen by the BBC, to FIFA’s vice-presidents, council members and all 211 member associations, offering a sincere apology for the errors made and committing to preventing similar mistakes in the future. The two were later photographed together attending a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match in Rabat.
Infantino had previously offered every member association $40 million if they backed his proposal for private investment in FIFA’s tournaments, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, through the new FFE subsidiary.
FIFA said mistakes related to the plan were acknowledged during Wednesday’s meeting, noting it was never the intention for the FIFA Council or member associations to feel excluded from the process, and that the rollout should have been handled differently. The organization also acknowledged additional errors following the plan’s leak to media, after The Times first broke the story on July 28.
Despite these admissions, FIFA’s statement also warned that the organization will no longer tolerate attacks on its integrity, governance or due process, and pledged to take all necessary measures to protect its name and reputation.
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Separately, FIFA denied a Times report claiming Infantino had promised Morocco hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup final in exchange for its support, calling the claim false and misleading and saying a decision on the final’s location, with the tournament jointly hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, would come in due course.
Infantino will be hoping this marks the beginning of the end for what may be the biggest controversy of his decade-long tenure. Still, the show of internal support followed a fresh wave of sharp criticism. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country recently co-hosted the World Cup alongside the United States and Mexico, said he no longer has confidence in Infantino.
Former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Portugal winger Luis Figo, who briefly ran against Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2015 before withdrawing, called for Infantino’s immediate resignation, saying he has debased the office he once promised to elevate and that while it’s too late to save his own dignity, it isn’t too late to save football.
Even so, the 56-year-old appears set to seek reelection to a fourth term. Rival candidates have until November 18 to enter the race, with the vote taking place at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in March 2027; winning requires 106 votes from FIFA’s 211 member associations.
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UEFA, however, may have other plans. Over the weekend, Europe’s governing body said it had lost confidence in Infantino and threatened legal action against FIFA. Several member associations, including Wales, have already withdrawn support for his reelection, with England expected to follow.
FIFA maintained that although mistakes were made, everything done was in full compliance with its regulatory framework, and expressed hope that the outcomes of Wednesday’s meeting would strengthen governance and restore confidence in the organization. It seems unlikely, however, that such statements, backed by a group of executives, will be enough to ease UEFA’s anger.
UEFA has reacted swiftly to every development since the FFE plan first surfaced, from its initial rejection of the proposal, to the moment all 55 member associations threatened to boycott FIFA competitions entirely, through to what amounted to an effective vote of no confidence. Still, the confederation faces a real obstacle in translating that anger into concrete action.
Since Infantino reversed course, only CONCACAF has criticized him as a confederation, though it stopped short of declaring a loss of confidence. The Asian confederation rejected the original plan but has issued no broader statement since Infantino abandoned it.
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While UEFA holds considerable influence, it cannot realistically remove Infantino on its own and needs broader global backing. Outside Europe, only Jordan, one of the few member associations that hadn’t signed a letter supporting Infantino’s reelection before the controversy, has publicly called for him to step down. The list of countries reaffirming their support is considerably longer, drawn largely from Infantino’s traditional strongholds in Asia and Africa.
In recent days, Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Philippines have all backed him, nations that have benefited from roughly $8 million in funding every three-year cycle through Infantino’s FIFA
Forward program, the predecessor to FFE. UEFA now faces the challenge of convincing these countries that an alternative candidate could offer comparable financial support with greater transparency, even as Infantino already commands their loyalty.
None of Infantino’s previous controversies, including the process behind Saudi Arabia securing hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup, President Trump’s FIFA Peace Prize, or Folarin Balogun escaping suspension during the World Cup, seriously threatened his position.
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This time, the attempt to sell off a share of FIFA’s commercial and ticketing rights proved a step too far for many, not only because of how it looked, but because it was kept secret from senior FIFA leadership and because the primary beneficiary would have been Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
That means Infantino now has bridges to rebuild not just with the 211 national associations, but with those closest to him within the organization. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned over the plan, while others who voiced criticism, including Grafstrom, global football development chief Arsene Wenger, and chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, chose not to step down.
It’s likely additional dissent exists quietly within FIFA’s corridors of power that hasn’t yet surfaced publicly.
Beyond rebuilding trust, Infantino may also need to outline, or offer, a genuine path toward reform, potentially including new checks and balances designed to prevent a similar plan from being developed and presented this way again. Whether that means shelving his ambitions for a 64-team World Cup or opening up FIFA’s financial reserves for greater scrutiny remains to be seen.
