FIFA issue Gianni Infantino statement after crisis meeting with senior executives | OneFootball

The English and Welsh FAs among those to have withdrawn support for Gianni Infantino’s re-election next year

Gianni Infantino has the “full support” of FIFA’s management board despite being forced to abandon his plan to sell stakes in a company to run the World Cup to private investors.

He held a crisis meeting with senior FIFA executives in Morocco on Wednesday and emerged with their support.

“The FIFA secretary general and members of the FIFA management board reaffirmed their full support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, as the only official elected by the 211 FIFA member associations,” a statement from the global governing body read.

FIFA’s top management is fully confident that the outcomes of today’s meeting will strengthen FIFA’s governance

FIFA statement

Mattias Grafstrom, the secretary general referenced in the statement, is understood to have written an email to staff on Tuesday in which he described Infantino’s proposal to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to manage FIFA competitions and sell a 20 per cent stake to private investors as “sad and reproachable”.

“FIFA’s top management is fully confident that the outcomes of today’s meeting will strengthen FIFA’s governance, help restore confidence in the organisation and enable us to prepare for the major events and challenges ahead in a united and transparent manner while continuing our mission to develop the game around the world,” it continued.

The statement said “mistakes were acknowledged” regarding the FFE plan at Wednesday’s meeting.

“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. It was further acknowledged that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media,” it added.

The statement confirmed a separate letter had been sent to member associations and the FIFA Council apologising for the errors, along with a commitment that they would not happen again. The statement said FIFA would now conduct a review of what had happened which would then be presented to the Council.

It added: “With the project withdrawn, it was agreed that FIFA will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation.”

UEFA has said it has “lost confidence” in Infantino, with the English and Welsh FAs among those to have withdrawn support for his re-election next year.

FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour told the Associated Press last week that the FIFA administration had been “deceived” by Infantino, while Portugal star Luis Figo joined the criticism earlier on Wednesday, saying Infantino’s conduct over FFE was the “lowest, most deceitful, and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed”.