In Rabat on a Wednesday in August, Gianni Infantino emerged from a closed-door reckoning with his presidency still in hand — bruised but unbroken. The Fifa president had built a scheme in secrecy, offering national associations millions to sell stakes in football's most sacred competitions to private investors, and when it collapsed under public scrutiny, he offered apologies rather than a resignation. The episode illuminates a tension as old as institutional power itself: the distance between those who govern and those who are governed, and whether contrition alone can restore what opacity ha
Infantino Apologizes for Errors, Retains Fifa Presidency After Board Support
He had debased the office he promised to elevate
Mark
Why did Infantino's investment scheme provoke such a different reaction than his other controversial decisions—the Saudi Arabia World Cup hosting, the Trump peace prize?
Mimi
Because this one touched the money directly, and it was hidden. Those other decisions were opaque too, but this one proposed to actually carve up the competitions themselves and hand pieces to private investors. It felt like selling the family silver without asking the family.
Mark
But he offered every association $40 million. Isn't that a form of asking?
Mimi
It's asking with a check in hand. That's not consultation—that's a transaction designed to look like consent. The real problem was that the people who should have been in the room from the start weren't. His own secretary general called it reproachable.
Mark
So why did Grafstrom and the board back him anyway?
Mimi
Because Infantino still controls the machinery. He controls the funding, the calendar, the relationships with powerful confederations. Grafstrom could resign on principle, but then what? Someone else takes his job and nothing changes. Sometimes staying and pushing for reform from inside feels like the only real option.
Mark
Can Uefa actually remove him?
Mimi
Not alone. They'd need Africa and Asia to turn against him, and those continents have been getting paid very well to stay loyal. Uefa has to convince them that the next president will fund them just as generously but with actual transparency. That's a hard sell when Infantino is already writing the checks.
Mark
What does he need to do to survive this?
Mimi
Offer real structural change—not just apologies. Put in place mechanisms that make it impossible to do this again. Maybe sacrifice something he cares about, like the 64-team World Cup. Show that he's willing to lose something to keep his job.
Il Polso
- A secret plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors — sweetened with $40 million offers to each of 211 member federations — collapsed spectacularly within days of being exposed by The Times.
- Uefa withdrew confidence in Infantino's leadership, a Canadian prime minister publicly disavowed him, and a former presidential rival called on him to resign immediately, calling the episode a debasement of the office.
- Infantino convened his management board in Rabat, and four hours later Fifa issued a statement of full support — accompanied by a veiled warning that it would defend itself against what it framed as attacks on its integrity.
- The mathematics of the 2027 election favor the incumbent: Asian and African associations, many reliant on Fifa's development funding, have rallied behind him, leaving Uefa without the global coalition it needs to unseat him.
- With a senior adviser already resigned and trust fractured even among loyalists, Infantino's survival may depend less on apologies than on whether he can offer meaningful structural reform before November's candidacy deadline.
In Rabat on a Wednesday in August, Gianni Infantino emerged from a closed-door reckoning with his presidency still in hand — bruised but unbroken. The Fifa president had built a scheme in secrecy, offering national associations millions to sell stakes in football's most sacred competitions to private investors, and when it collapsed under public scrutiny, he offered apologies rather than a resignation. The episode illuminates a tension as old as institutional power itself: the distance between those who govern and those who are governed, and whether contrition alone can restore what opacity has eroded.
Gianni Infantino left a meeting in Rabat on Wednesday with his presidency intact. The Fifa management board, convened at the organization's Africa office, reaffirmed its full support for him after four hours of deliberation — a result that did little to quiet the storm gathering beyond the room.
The controversy had begun with a scheme Infantino developed in near-total secrecy: a plan to sell stakes in Fifa's most valuable competitions, including the men's and women's World Cups, to private investors through a new subsidiary called the Fifa Forward Enterprise. Each of the 211 member federations was offered $40 million to back the arrangement. When The Times broke the story on July 28, the plan unraveled swiftly. Even Fifa's own secretary general, Mattias Grafstrom, had described the sequence of events as "a sad and reproachable series of events" in an internal memo — before standing beside Infantino in Rabat and co-signing a letter of apology to the organization's leadership.
Fifa's official statement acknowledged mistakes in both the conception of the proposal and its handling once the press became aware of it. But the statement also carried a warning: the organization would take all necessary measures to protect its name against what it characterized as attacks on its integrity. The image of Infantino and Grafstrom together at a Women's Africa Cup of Nations match that evening was carefully composed — a tableau of unity over fracture.
The fracture, however, was real. Uefa declared it had lost confidence in Infantino's leadership and threatened legal action. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country had co-hosted the recent World Cup, said he no longer trusted him. Luis Figo, who had challenged Sepp Blatter for the presidency in 2015, called on Infantino to resign immediately, saying he had debased the very office he had promised to elevate.
With re-election scheduled for the Fifa Congress in Morocco in March 2027, Infantino faces a narrowing but navigable path. Rivals may declare candidacy until November 18, and a winner needs 106 votes from 211 associations. Uefa's anger, though significant, cannot alone unseat him — it needs a global coalition that has not yet formed. Nations across Asia and Africa, many of them beneficiaries of Fifa's development funding, have lined up behind the incumbent. Jordan remains the only non-European association to have publicly called for his removal.
What Infantino may need most is not loyalty from executives but credible reform — structural safeguards against the kind of secretive deal-making that brought him to this moment. His senior adviser on global strategy resigned over the FFE plan. Others stayed, reservations intact. Whether apology and survival are enough to restore what was lost remains the open question hanging over football's governing body.
Gianni Infantino walked out of a meeting in Rabat on Wednesday with his job intact. The Fifa president had summoned the management board to the organization's Africa office to answer for a scheme that had, in the span of a week, fractured his support among Europe's football leaders, prompted calls for his resignation from a former presidential candidate, and triggered threats of legal action from Uefa. Four hours after the meeting ended, Fifa released a statement saying the board had reaffirmed its full support for him to remain president.
The controversy centered on a proposal Infantino had developed in near-total secrecy: a plan to sell stakes in Fifa's most valuable competitions—the men's and women's World Cups among them—to private investors through a new subsidiary called the Fifa Forward Enterprise. To sweeten the deal for national associations, Infantino had offered each of the 211 member federations $40 million if they backed the scheme. The Times broke the story on July 28, and within days, the arrangement unraveled under withering criticism from inside and outside the organization.
Infantino's own secretary general, Mattias Grafstrom, had called the sequence of events "a sad and reproachable series of events" in an internal memo to staff. Yet by Wednesday, Grafstrom and the management board were standing beside him. In a signed letter sent to Fifa's vice-presidents, council, and member associations, both men apologized for their "errors" and committed that such mistakes would not recur. The two were photographed together at a Women's Africa Cup of Nations match in Rabat that evening, a calculated image of unity.
Fifa's statement acknowledged that "mistakes" had been made—both in how the FFE proposal was conceived and in how it was handled after the media learned of it. The organization said it had not intended for the council and member associations to feel excluded from the process, and that the process itself should have been managed differently. Yet the statement also contained a warning: Fifa would "no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process" and would "take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation."
The support from Fifa's executives, however, could not erase the damage done elsewhere. Uefa had declared it had lost confidence in Infantino's leadership and threatened legal action. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose country co-hosted the recent World Cup, said he no longer had confidence in him. Luis Figo, the former Barcelona and Real Madrid winger who had run against Infantino's predecessor Sepp Blatter for the presidency in 2015, called on him to resign immediately, saying Infantino had "debased the office that he promised to elevate."
At 56, Infantino appears determined to fight for a fourth term. Rivals have until November 18 to declare their candidacy, with the election scheduled for the Fifa Congress in Morocco in March 2027. A candidate needs 106 votes from the 211 member associations to win. The mathematics of that contest, however, favor the incumbent. While Uefa has significant power, it cannot realistically unseat Infantino alone. It needs global support, and so far, that support has not materialized beyond Europe. Jordan is the only non-European association to have publicly called for his removal. Meanwhile, countries across Asia and Africa—many of them beneficiaries of Infantino's Fifa Forward program, which distributes $8 million to each nation in every three-year cycle—have lined up behind him. Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Philippines have all recently reaffirmed their backing.
Infantino's path forward requires rebuilding trust with those closest to him as much as with the broader membership. Carlos Cordeiro, his senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned over the FFE plan. Others, including Grafstrom, Arsene Wenger, and Kevin Lamour, chose to stay despite their reservations. To truly turn the page, Infantino may need to offer substantive reform—additional checks and balances to prevent such secretive dealings in the future, or perhaps concessions on other contentious issues like his proposed 64-team World Cup format. What remains clear is that Uefa's anger will not be easily assuaged by statements of support from Fifa's own executives.
Citazioni salienti
A sad and reproachable series of events— Mattias Grafstrom, Fifa secretary general, in internal memo to staff
Infantino has debased the office that he promised to elevate. It is too late to save his dignity but it is not too late to save football.— Luis Figo, former Barcelona and Real Madrid winger
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