Under-pressure Infantino apologises for World Cup sell-off plan

Key points

• FIFA president Gianni Infantino apologised at a three-hour FIFA Council meeting in Zurich on Thursday for not telling the council about his World Cup sell-off plan.
• European football leaders, including FA chair Debbie Hewitt, said the apology was not enough and still want Infantino to resign.
• UEFA wants Infantino to release all documents about the plan, which would have sold a 20 per cent stake in all future FIFA tournaments.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino apologised at a three-hour FIFA Council meeting in Zurich on Thursday for not informing the council about his World Cup sell-off plan. European football leaders, including FA chair Debbie Hewitt, said the apology was not enough and still want him to resign.

UEFA is demanding that Infantino release all documents relating to the plan, which it believes would have sold a 20 per cent stake in all future FIFA tournaments at a knockdown price.

What happened with the sell-off plan

After this summer's World Cup, Infantino abandoned a controversial plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to private equity investors following fierce opposition from football's governing bodies. FIFA had announced it was seeking to launch FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would combine the sale of FIFA's commercial rights, including broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing, with the operational delivery of its tournaments.

Infantino had given football associations until September 19 to back his proposals to sell off part of FIFA to private investors, with a £30.1m incentive to accept. The plan drew fierce criticism from UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The man has to answer those questions, and if he doesn't answer those questions, no, he's not fit to be FIFA president, and that was shared in the meeting.

— Debbie Hewitt

What officials said

Hewitt said Council members had not received answers to "anything we had specifically requested" regarding FFE or the suspension of USA striker Folarin Balogun's one-match ban, which followed a call to Infantino from US President Donald Trump. She told reporters in Zurich: "The man has to answer those questions, and if he doesn't answer those questions, no, he's not fit to be FIFA president, and that was shared in the meeting."

Sky Sports News chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol said the apology was not enough for European football leaders, who "want him out" and believe the plan was the final scandal in a long list. He added that they are convinced Infantino was trying to sell off the World Cup on the cheap and have gone to the courts to force the release of all documents.