Gianni Infantino Apologizes Over Controversial Plan

Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, apologized for the controversial plan to transfer the organization's commercial rights, which was proposed by the FIFA Council.

According to Ambassador Arjan, the meeting was held on Thursday in Zurich, and it was the first meeting of the FIFA Council after the disclosure of Infantino's secret plan. The FFE project envisaged the transfer of part of the commercial rights of the governing body of world football to a private investment company.

Infantino was questioned about the case during a three and a half hour hearing, but other issues were also on the agenda; Among them, the cancellation of the suspension of Folarin Balogan, the American striker, following a request for a review by Donald Trump, the President of the United States, the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize to the President of this country, and also the financing of national federations.

Infantino also apologized for not informing and consulting the FIFA Council about the plan to sell commercial rights and promised to share similar plans with them.

Debbie Hewitt, president of the FA and FIFA vice-president, believed that despite holding what she described as the "most frank, honest and transparent meeting of the FIFA Council" of her tenure, many fundamental questions remained unanswered.

This English director emphasized the necessity of access to information and documents and said: "I requested many times that the documents be made available to the members, but I did not receive them, and despite the request today, they still have not reached me. I mean the documents that shed light on the basis of the formation of the FFE project, the Balogun case and the Peace Prize.

From my personal point of view, the answers to these questions will determine whether Jani is the right person to be the president of FIFA or not. "Then we can judge whether or not each person involved in the FFE project is trustworthy."

Hewitt acknowledged that there were signs of remorse in Infantino's apology, but criticized its narrow scope: "What he really apologized for was not bringing it up to the FIFA council. If he is really that remorseful, then he should share the documents with us. In my opinion, nothing has changed. I have not received any new information that would change my opinion; "The only new thing is that the president of FIFA has apologized."