Rabat: The leadership of the world football governing body, FIFA, has reaffirmed its support for embattled president, Gianni Infantino, in a meeting held in Rabat, Morocco, on Wednesday. Infantino had faced significant backlash from football stakeholders globally after announcing a plan to sell a 20 percent stake in a commercial rights entity to private investors, intending to raise approximately $4.2 billion for FIFA.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the announcement was met with criticism, particularly from UEFA, the European football governing body, which quickly released a statement asserting that football was no one’s property to sell. UEFA expressed its loss of confidence in Infantino’s leadership, leading several European football federations to withdraw their support for Infantino’s re-election bid in March 2027. Additionally, CONCACAF, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, echoed UEFA’s vote of no confidence against Infantino.
In an effort to mitigate the situation, Infantino announced last Friday that the proposal to sell the 20 percent stake to investors had been withdrawn. A statement released by FIFA on Wednesday confirmed that members of its management board have reaffirmed their full support for President Gianni Infantino. The statement noted that Infantino had also declared his support for FIFA’s Secretary-General Mattia Graftstorm.
The statement emphasized that Infantino, who has been President since 2016, remains ‘the only official elected by the 211 FIFA member associations.’ It also confirmed that a letter had been sent to FIFA council members and member associations apologizing for the controversies that arose following the announcement of the stake sale. The letter acknowledged 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 managed differently.
FIFA asserted that, with the withdrawal of the controversial proposal, it would ‘no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance, and due process.’