Infantino Offers Apology But ‘No Answers’ At FIFA Meeting Over World Cup Plan

FIFA president Gianni Infantino gave “no satisfactory answers” when questioned on Thursday about his attempts to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, senior members of football’s global governing body said. However, he offered an apology for the failed project.

“We asked a great many critical questions, but there were no satisfactory answers from my point of view,” said Bernd Neuendorf, head of the German Football Association (DFB) and a member of the FIFA Council.

Neuendorf spoke after the Council met behind closed doors at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, where Infantino’s FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal was one of the main topics on the agenda.

Infantino has been under severe pressure since announcing in late July that he wanted to open FIFA’s premium competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors.

The plan was ultimately abandoned following widespread criticism, with opposition led by European governing body UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF, which oversees football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

“I think we had the opportunity to say what we felt, and we spoke a lot about the issues,” Debbie Hewitt, chair of the English Football Association and a FIFA vice-president, told reporters, adding that Infantino had apologised.

“I think it is fair to say Gianni apologised at the beginning for what had happened, and he said that with some contrition, and then there were no holds barred in terms of what we felt about what happened.”

Hewitt and Neuendorf are among the 36 members of the FIFA Council, alongside Infantino.

Infantino has led FIFA since 2016 and is seeking re-election next March, despite calls for him to step down following the FFE controversy.

For now, no heavyweight candidate has declared an intention to challenge him.

“We were asked to submit our questions” about the plan, which was not presented to the FIFA Council before the July announcement, Hewitt said.

“One of the disappointing things was we didn’t get answers. We didn’t get answers to anything we had specifically requested, for example getting the papers from FFE, and so we asked the question why and why not.”

‘Nothing Has Shifted’

Many leading European national associations have withdrawn their support for Infantino ahead of the upcoming election following the controversy surrounding FFE and other issues, including his relationship with US President Donald Trump.

Among the main concerns were Infantino’s decision to establish a FIFA Peace Prize and award it to Trump at the World Cup draw last December, as well as the decision to suspend a ban on United States striker Folarin Balogun following a red card during the World Cup after Trump directly intervened by calling Infantino.

“I speak for myself as a Council member — from my position nothing has shifted,” Hewitt added.

“I have no new information that makes me feel any differently to how I felt when I went in, other than we do have a president of FIFA who is apologetic about what has happened, and secondly a promise again that we will get the information that we have requested.”

FIFA was expected to present a plan at the Council meeting to establish a $6.35-billion development fund for the next four years.

The fund would distribute money to FIFA’s 211 member federations and regional confederations, drawing partly on the organisation’s financial reserves following a commercially successful 2026 World Cup.

The proposal would allow for payments of $25 million to each of FIFA’s 211 member federations.

Infantino may hope the latest proposal will strengthen his position ahead of the election.

The deadline for submitting candidacies is November 18.