Gianni Infantino has apologized for the “errors” he made in relation to his controversial plan to divest stakes in competition to private investors, but will retain his role as the FIFA President as he received support from the organization’s top executives in Morocco.
Infantino gathered members of the management board to a meeting at the African branch of FIFA in Morocco on Wednesday as he faced increasing criticisms in light of his abandoned plans, with world football’s ruling body issuing a statement of support just four hours after the meeting was held.
According to European football’s governing body Uefa, it has lost faith in Infantino as it branded the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal as a “shabby, back room, opaque deal.”
The FFE Controversy
A lot of criticisms have also been expressed internally, including the comments of secretary general Mattias Grafstrom who attended the meeting yesterday. According to him, the situation is “a sad and reproachable series of events” in an internal memo sent to FIFA employees on Tuesday.
But according to a statement issued after the meeting, Grafstrom and the management board “expressed their full support” for Infantino as President of the organization.
Infantino and Grafstrom also signed a letter – seen by the BBC – to FIFA’s vice-presidents, council and 211 member associations, saying they “sincerely apologize” for the mistakes they committed and “commit to them not happening again.”
The two were pictured attending a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match together in Rabat after the meeting.
Infantino proposed to give all associations $40m (£30m) in case they agreed with his plan to have private investments in their tournaments, which include men’s and women’s World Cups through a new subsidiary called FFE.
In its statement issued after the meeting, FIFA acknowledged that “mistakes were made in the context of the FFE.” They stated that it was “not the intention” of FIFA to have its council and members’ association feeling “excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently.”
FIFA also acknowledged in its statement that “errors were made after the proposal leaked to media,” as the Times first broke the news about the plans of the FIFA President on July 28.
But FIFA added that it “will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation.”
Earlier, FIFA rejected a report from the Times which claimed that Infantino has promised to give Morocco hosting rights of the 2030 World Cup Final in return for their support.
FIFA said it was a “false and misleading” claim and that a decision on where to conduct the final, with the tournament hosted in Spain and Portugal, will be made “in due course.”
