FIFA president Gianni Infantino has apologized to the FIFA Council for his failed plan to sell a portion of the organization's operations to private investors, but some council members left a key meeting with unanswered questions.
The 37-member FIFA Council met in Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday, Oct. 15, for the first meeting of the leadership body since Infantino's controversial proposal in the wake of the 2026 World Cup.
Following the collapse of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan, Infantino has seen his position come under heavy scrutiny. Infantino has scrambled to consolidate support ahead of the presidential election in March, with many leaders calling for an opposition candidate to run.
During a three-and-a-half-hour meeting on Thursday,
Infantino apologized for not consulting the council over the FFE plan. But many council members left disappointed after failing to receive documentation they requested.
"One of the disappointing things is that we didn't get answers to anything that we had specifically requested – for example getting the papers from FFE," FIFA vice president and English FA chair Debbie Hewitt said after the meeting.
"I asked the question 'why not?' – and we were asked to submit those questions in writing.
"I think the man has to answer those questions and if he doesn't answer those questions now, he's not fit to be FIFA president, and that was what was shared in the meeting."
Hewitt did say that Infantino showed "some contrition" during his apology.
“Yes he apologized, but I didn’t have the feeling that this apology was because of the FFE project in total. My impression was it was just because it wasn’t brought forward to the council and no one was involved," added German FA president Bernd Neuendorf.
UEFA, Europe's governing body, has been the most critical of Infantino's plan and the president himself. Other confederations, such as the Confederation of African Football, have been more supportive.
The president of CAF said last week at meetings in Cape Verde that all 54 CAF members plan to back Infantino's re-election campaign.
"After finally withdrawing this proposal, president Gianni Infantino apologized to the members of the Executive Committee. This was followed by a responsible debate, during which this issue was more or less shelved," said Ahmed Yahya, president of the Mauritanian Football Federation, after the meeting.
“I am certain that Gianni Infantino is the right president," Yahya added. "The majority want Gianni Infantino to stay.”
According to Infantino, the council's questions over the FFE proposal will be answered "in due course" in writing.
"I feel we had a constructive discussion about processes. about the proposal, about everything that is connected with that, with different opinions, different points of views, and we are now happy to receive all the questions that were posed by FIFA Council members and to revert to these questions, of course, in writing, in due course," Infantino said in a FIFA news release.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FIFA's Infantino apologizes over failed investor plan, but questions remain
