By Rohith Nair
Aug 5 (Reuters) – FIFA apologised to its members for mistakes made over its abandoned proposal to sell commercial rights to the World Cup as the body’s leadership reaffirmed its support for President Gianni Infantino after a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday.
The proposal to sell a 20% stake in a new commercial rights entity to private investors in a deal that would have raised about $4.2 billion provoked a fierce backlash and was withdrawn last Friday.
Infantino bore the brunt of the criticism, including some from inside FIFA, which raised questions over his re-election as president next March.
“Following a meeting in Rabat, Morocco, the FIFA Secretary General and members of the FIFA management board in attendance reaffirmed their full support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino,” the statement said.
“In turn, the FIFA President reiterated his full support for the FIFA Secretary General and the FIFA administration for their necessary and outstanding work in the delivery of his vision.”
Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom sent an internal memo to staff this week lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” that led to the project being “permanently abandoned”, two sources told Reuters.
Grafstrom’s letter, which did not mention Infantino by name, noted that “individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go” but FIFA’s work would continue.
His words echoed those of FIFA’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour, who said last week that staff had been “deceived” over the plan which he described as the project of one person.
Wednesday’s FIFA statement noted that Infantino, president since 2016, was “the only official elected by the 211 FIFA member associations”.
FIFA said a separate letter had been sent to FIFA Council members and member associations apologising for the errors and promising a review.
“It was agreed that it was not the intention for the FIFA Council and FIFA member associations to feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently,” the statement added.
With the proposal withdrawn, FIFA said it would “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process”.
FIERCE CRITICISM OF PROPOSAL FROM STAKEHOLDERS
The proposal, which also drew scrutiny because of the involvement of a company with family links to U.S. President Donald Trump, prompted fierce criticism from European soccer’s governing body UEFA and other stakeholders.
Infantino’s backdown last Friday did little to assuage those critics and a handful of European federations have withdrawn their backing for the 56-year-old Swiss Italian.
UEFA said it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership, a stance shared by CONCACAF, which runs the game in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were also highly critical of the way the proposal was presented as a fait accompli without consultation.
Former Portugal great Luis Figo, who planned to run for the FIFA presidency in 2015, said Infantino should resign over the affair, while UEFA Vice President Laura McAllister told Reuters the controversy surrounding the abandoned proposal had brought the FIFA president’s leadership to a crisis point.
European Leagues, which represents more than 1,300 clubs across Europe, said on Wednesday FIFA must not be allowed to “continue taking unilaterally disruptive decisions” that affect clubs, players and fans.
It also criticised the “impractically short assessment timeline” of four weeks given by FIFA to study the plan to expand the World Cup from 48 to 64 teams for the 2030 edition.
An Extraordinary Congress could be called if 43 or more FIFA member associations make a formal written request for one.
INFANTINO ALLIES SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT
Infantino still has plenty of allies, however, particularly in parts of the world where impoverished football associations rely on FIFA’s largesse to operate.
Leading African football administrators have sent messages of support as Infantino looks to the continent’s 54 members for backing. The African confederation (CAF) has yet to take a stance.
The executive committee of the smallest and least wealthy regional confederation, Oceania, will meet next Wednesday to discuss their approach.
Qatar, which hosted the 2022 World Cup, Kuwait, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines have all declared their loyalty to Infantino despite the AFC’s critical stance.
Under FIFA rules, the vote of San Marino, whose men’s team are ranked 211th and last in the world rankings, counts as much as that of World Cup winners like Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Spain.
One clear advantage for Infantino as he looks to extend his presidency until 2031 is that no clear candidate to stand against him in March’s election has yet emerged.
One of the first football associations to back Infantino after his proposal was withdrawn was Morocco, which will co-host the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Spain and is hoping to stage the final.
A FIFA spokesperson dismissed a report that Infantino had made promises over the staging of the title-deciding contest in exchange for support.
“It is false and misleading to claim the FIFA president has made any promise in relation to hosting the FIFA World Cup 2030 final,” the spokesperson said.
“A decision will be made by FIFA in due course.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair, Lori Ewing, Ian Ransom, Tim Hart and Suramya Kaushik, writing by Nick Mulvenney and Janina Nuno Rios, editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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