Infantino refuses to resign after FIFA apology over World Cup privatisation plan
FIFA President Gianni Infantino refused calls to resign at a crisis summit in Rabat on Wednesday after the governing body apologised to its member associations over a collapsed plan to sell a private equity stake in the World Cup. FIFA’s executive leadership gave him explicit backing during the emergency meeting.
The controversy centred on a confidential proposal to create a commercial subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to manage the commercial rights and operations of the FIFA World Cup and the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup, a plan that valued the subsidiary at $20 billion. Under terms leaked to the media, FIFA had intended to sell up to a 20 percent equity stake in FFE, raising an estimated $4.2 billion, and to offer financial inducements including a one-off payment of $20 million per member association scheduled for early 2027 and raising standard funding allocations from $8 million to $20 million per member cycle between 2027 and 2030.
The proposal provoked rapid opposition over governance, conflict-of-interest concerns and the commercialisation of the sport’s centrepiece, with European governing body UEFA leading resistance and threatening a boycott of future World Cups if the plan proceeded. Individual member bodies, including the Football Association of Wales, publicly withdrew support for Infantino’s presidency, and several internal executives registered anger at being excluded from key negotiations.
Internal tensions intensified when FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom distanced himself from the scheme in an internal memo to staff, describing the surrounding events as a "sad and reproachable series of events". Faced with a fractured executive council and mounting rebellion, Infantino formally withdrew the FFE proposal on August 1, acknowledging the initiative had caused division rather than unity.
At Wednesday’s emergency gathering in Rabat, FIFA dispatched a statement and a formal letter to the FIFA Council and all 211 member associations admitting procedural errors: "The processes, communications, and interactions... should have been handled differently. Mistakes made were acknowledged, and it was not the intention for the FIFA Council and Member Associations to feel excluded from the process." FIFA also confirmed a comprehensive internal review would be conducted and a detailed report submitted at the next scheduled FIFA Council meeting.
Despite the apology and pledge of a review, FIFA’s management board sought to protect Infantino, reaffirming its "full support" for the president and stressing he remains the sole official democratically elected by all 211 member nations. Grafstrom and attending executives issued a joint declaration offering their unreserved endorsement of Infantino’s presidency, arguing operational mistakes did not breach FIFA's legal or regulatory framework, and Infantino reiterated his complete confidence in Grafstrom and the administrative staff.
With the FFE proposal officially dead, FIFA said it will now turn its attention back to enhancing existing development initiatives such as the standard FIFA Forward programme.
