Gianni Infantino Apologizes, Stays FIFA President After Meeting

Gianni Infantino has expressed regret over mistakes linked to a disputed proposal to sell shares in football competitions to private investors. He will nevertheless continue as Fifa president after senior officials endorsed his leadership at a meeting in Morocco.

Infantino called members of the management board to Fifa’s African office in Rabat on Wednesday as criticism of the abandoned plan intensified. The organisation issued a statement supporting him four hours after the meeting concluded.

Uefa, which oversees European football, said over the weekend that it no longer trusted Infantino and described the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal as an improper and secretive agreement negotiated behind closed doors.

A significant amount of the criticism came from inside Fifa, including from secretary general Mattias Grofstrom, who attended Wednesday’s discussions. In a memo circulated to employees on Tuesday, he characterised the affair as a regrettable and unacceptable sequence of events.

Despite those remarks, a statement released after the meeting said Grofstrom and the management board had renewed their complete support for Infantino’s presidency.

Infantino and Grofstrom also signed a letter addressed to Fifa’s vice-presidents, council members and 211 national associations. In it, they offered a sincere apology for their mistakes and promised that the same problems would not occur again.

Following the meeting, the pair attended a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations fixture between Malawi and Zambia in Rabat.

Infantino had proposed giving each association $40m (£30m) in return for supporting private investment in Fifa competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, through the newly created FFE subsidiary.

Fifa said the mistakes surrounding FFE were recognised during Wednesday’s meeting. It added that there had been no intention to leave the Fifa council or national associations out of the discussions, while accepting that the process should have been managed differently.

The organisation also conceded that further errors occurred after details of the proposal reached the media, with the plan first becoming public on 28 July.

At the same time, Fifa warned that it would not accept attacks on its integrity, governance standards or formal procedures, and said it would take whatever action was required to defend its reputation.

Earlier, Fifa rejected allegations that Infantino had offered Morocco the right to stage the 2030 World Cup final in exchange for supporting him.

Fifa called the allegation inaccurate and deceptive, adding that the location of the final would be determined later. Spain and Portugal are also scheduled to host matches during the tournament.