Gianni Infantino will hold a crisis meeting with top FIFA officials in Morocco on Wednesday as he looks to shore up his position in the wake of the collapse of his gambit to sell off commercial rights to the World Cup.
The FIFA president has been the subject of a torrent of criticism, and no small amount of personal abuse, since he floated the idea of the new commercial rights body to FIFA’s 211 member associations last week.
The proposed sale of 20% of the body to private investment to raise $4.2 billion, and the involvement of a company with family links to US President Donald Trump, were just the most egregious flaws in the plan for its many critics.
His backdown last Friday has done little to assuage those critics, most notably the European confederation UEFA, who accused him of selling the soul of the game and have said they no longer have confidence in his leadership.
That has cast a shadow over Infantino’s reelection for a fourth term at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in March, which looked a foregone conclusion two months ago.
A handful of European federations have withdrawn their backing for the Swiss-Italian but perhaps more damaging is the messaging coming from some of Infantino’s colleagues at FIFA.
FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom sent an internal memo to staff lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” that led to the project being “permanently abandoned”, two sources told Reuters.
“Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go. The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue …” the Swede added in the letter, which made no mention of Infantino by name.
His words echoed those of FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour, who said last week that staff had been “deceived” over the plan which he described as “the project of one person”.
Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest at the plan last week and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger distanced himself from it on Tuesday.
Wenger, the chief of Global Football Development at FIFA, said he was not involved in the drafting of the proposal and maintained the decision to withdraw it was “absolutely necessary”.
