FIFA President Infantino apologises to council but critics remain unhappy
FIFA council meeting lasts over three hours as President Gianni Infantino apologises to members, but critics want more.
Key points
- Gianni Infantino apologised to FIFA Council colleagues for blindsiding them over a private investor plan for the World Cup.
- Infantino provided no new documents or details on the $4.2bn World Cup sell-off or the Folarin Balogun red-card case.
- UEFA is leading efforts to remove Infantino before or at the FIFA presidential election in March.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino apologised to his strongest critics at a meeting of the organisation's ruling council on Thursday, but gave no new details or documents on the issues that concern them most. The three-and-a-half-hour meeting produced no information about the $4.2bn World Cup sell-off plan he launched and then dropped, nor about the Folarin Balogun red-card case and how US President Donald Trump intervened to help the national team forward.
FIFA will, however, review whether to continue awarding the peace prize that was created to be given to Trump in December.
European officials press for answers
European football officials asked Infantino for written evidence about his private equity plan for the World Cup, which had provoked a global rift. According to FIFA Vice President Debbie Hewitt, who leads the English Football Association, Infantino asked them to submit written questions instead.
Hewitt said after the meeting: “The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn’t answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president.”
The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn’t answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president.
— Debbie Hewitt
UEFA push to remove Infantino
UEFA, European football's ruling body, is leading attempts to remove Infantino before or at the FIFA presidential election in March. German football chief Bernd Neuendorf, one of eight UEFA delegates on the 37-member FIFA Council that Infantino chairs, said no satisfactory answers were provided.
Neuendorf told reporters: “We need a person of integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the reputation of the association, which has undoubtedly been lost.” The council had not met since Infantino provoked the crisis.
Infantino began the meeting by apologising for blindsiding his council colleagues and creating a furore over his private investor plan with venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, revealed in media reports nine days after the World Cup final in July. UEFA has also asked courts in the United States for the right to obtain evidence for a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland, with filings alleging possible mismanagement of FIFA finances over the value he put on the intended subsidiary running tournament commercial rights. That subsidiary was to be at least 20 percent owned by investors led by Kushner, the brother of Trump's son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner.
