{"id":29551,"date":"2026-08-06T07:29:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29551"},"modified":"2026-08-06T07:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T02:29:21","slug":"infantino-receives-internal-support-at-crisis-meeting-to-remain-as-fifa-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29551","title":{"rendered":"Infantino receives internal support at crisis meeting to remain as FIFA president"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/01\/WCup_FIFA_Investors_Soccer_79634_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>FIFA said Wednesday it had apologized for errors made over Gianni Infantino\u2019s failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and that senior staff in attendance at a crisis meeting in Morocco \u201creaffirmed their full support\u201d for his presidency.<\/p>\n<p>World soccer\u2019s governing body attempted to present a unified front amid the turbulence caused by Infantino\u2019s controversial plans, with calls for him to step down.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, FIFA said Secretary General Mattias Grafstr\u00f6m and members of the management board in attendance in Rabat had given their support to the embattled president.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to the plans to sell profits in the World Cup through a commercial subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), the statement said \u201cmistakes made were acknowledged\u201d and that the \u201cprocess should have been handled differently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FIFA said a letter had been sent to FIFA Council and member associations apologizing for errors and committed to \u201censure they do not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grafstr\u00f6m\u2019s stated support was notable after he distanced himself from Infantino\u2019s now abandoned plans in an email to all FIFA staff calling the last week a \u201csad and reproachable series of events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FIFA said Infantino had also reaffirmed his support for his secretary general.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>World soccer\u2019s governing said the FFE proposal was \u201cnow off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are always lessons to be learned, and FIFA will continue to improve its processes in light of this experience,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen if the meeting will ease the pressure on Infantino.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Serious questions\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>Earlier Wednesday, the association of European soccer leagues \u2014 including the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A \u2014 called for governance reform of FIFA. It described the FFE proposal as \u201cdangerous\u201d and said it pointed to deeper concerns about how the governing body operates.<\/p>\n<p>It said it raised \u201cserious questions about FIFA\u2019s governance, internal culture and decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow more than ever, FIFA requires governance reform that ensures that all relevant stakeholders have a formal role in decisions that shape the future of our game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the statement, European Leagues hit out at the possibility of further expanding the World Cup to 64 teams and said \u201cFIFA must not be allowed to continue taking unilaterally disruptive decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It said that until there was reform it would reject the \u201cexpansion or creation\u201d of FIFA competitions.<\/p>\n<p>Portugal and Real Madrid great Luis Figo also called for Infantino to step down, saying he had \u201cdebased the office.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FIFA denied a British media report suggesting Infantino, in seeking support for his presidency, had offered Morocco the hosting of the final at the 2030 World Cup. Spain, Portugal and Morocco are the main co-hosts for the 2030 edition. Morocco hopes to host the final at the planned 115,000-seat King Hassan II Stadium near Casablanca; Spain has at least two contenders &#8211; the home stadiums of Real Madrid and Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>A FIFA spokesperson said it\u2019s \u201cfalse and misleading to claim the FIFA president has made any promise in relation to hosting the FIFA World Cup 2030 final. A decision will be made by FIFA in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Canada\u2019s Carney raises concerns<\/h3>\n<p>Also Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he no longer has confidence Infantino. He said the FIFA president committed a \u201cfatal\u201d governance failure by not consulting senior advisers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly I don\u2019t have confidence in Mr. Infantino,\u201d said Mr. Carney, who had appeared alongside Infantino at several events during the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>A tumultuous week have raised questions about Infantino\u2019s presidency of FIFA ahead of elections in March.<\/p>\n<p>European soccer\u2019s governing body UEFA has applied the most intense pressure by voting to boycott the World Cup if Infantino pressed ahead with (FFE).<\/p>\n<p>Even after Infantino\u2019s climbdown UEFA said it had lost confidence in FIFA\u2019s leadership &#8211; possibly paving the way for a challenge to his presidency. The governing body for North and Central American and Caribbean soccer (CONCACAF) also said FIFA leadership had \u201cstopped putting football first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There have also been signs of division within the organization with chief of global football development Ars\u00e8ne Wenger distancing himself from the FFE plans. Infantino\u2019s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned last week and chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said staff were \u201cdeceived\u201d by the president\u2019s lack of openness.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Infantino is aiming for to win a fourth and final term in office at the March elections.<\/p>\n<div class=\"permission\" style=\"padding-top: 25px;\">\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 The Washington Times, LLC.\n                        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FIFA said Wednesday it had apologized for errors made over Gianni Infantino\u2019s failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and that senior staff in attendance at a crisis meeting in Morocco \u201creaffirmed their full support\u201d for his presidency. World soccer\u2019s governing body attempted to present a unified front amid the turbulence caused by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/01\/WCup_FIFA_Investors_Soccer_79634_c0-78-1884-1177_s1200x700.jpg?799737750828f31cd0655a28a0a8922e3a864c0a","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}