On Wednesday afternoon, International Football Association Board (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino gathered his management team for an emergency meeting in Rabat, Morocco.
Just over seven hours later, FIFA issued a press release stating that "mistakes had been made", and that the intention was never for member associations to feel excluded from the process surrounding the criticised investment plan in which shares in, among other things, the World Cup would be sold off.
Sent letter
Fifa also said a separate letter of apology had been sent to Fifa members. According to Sky News, the letter was signed by president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafström.
"We sincerely apologize for these errors and promise to ensure they are not repeated," they write in the letter, according to Sky News.
FIFA is simultaneously counterattacking. The federation “will not tolerate any attacks on its integrity,” the press release states, and the same wording appears in the letter to member associations. FIFA “will take all necessary measures to defend its reputation.” FIFA’s executive committee is also said to have “full confidence” in Infantino as president.
According to previous information to The Athletic, Infantino hid his now scrapped business plan from Swede Grafström and it has largely been described as a one-man project signed by the Fifa boss.
On Tuesday, an internal message was leaked in which Secretary General Grafström wrote to Fifa employees about the proposal and called the developments surrounding it a "sad and reprehensible development", according to French RMC Sport, among others.
Gave thumbs up
Now the rift between Infantino and Grafström seems to be healed - at least on the surface. On Wednesday night, the duo were seen in the stands together when Malawi and Zambia met in the African Women's Championship in Rabat. On
Several national federations have withdrawn their support for Infantino ahead of the re-election in March due to recent events.
The Swedish Football Association announced on Monday that the 56-year-old is not supported and stated that a counter-candidate will be developed in collaboration with UEFA.
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) consists of 211 member associations, all of which have voting rights on the issues raised during a congress.
The federations do not vote in blocs, but can seek consensus within the respective continental federation on many major issues.
There are a total of six continental federations.
The Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) is the largest with 55 FIFA members, closely followed by the Confederation of African Football (Caf), which has 54 FIFA members.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has 46 members, the North and Central American and Caribbean Confederation (Concacaf) has 35, the Oceania Confederation (OFC) has 11 and the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has 10 FIFA members.
The next ordinary FIFA Congress will be held in Rabat, Morocco, in March 2027. A presidential election will be held then, and currently incumbent President Gianni Infantino is the only candidate.
The deadline for running as a candidate is November 18th.
