Infantino's apology for the controversial plan to sell shares of the World Cup

Johnny Infantino apologized for the plan to transfer part of FIFA's commercial rights to private investors The post Infantino's apology for the controversial plan to sell shares of the World Cup appeared first on Safir Arjan.

According to Ambassador Arjan, Johnny Infantino, who after failing to implement his controversial project called "FIFA Forward Enterprise", which, according to his claim, the World Football Federation and its stakeholders could attract 4.2 billion capital from the sale of more than 20% of the World Cup shares to foreign investors, has been severely criticized in recent months, and a number of FIFA member federations have publicly announced that they will advance in the elections. FIFA will not support him, last night (Thursday) at the meeting of the FIFA council members in Zurich city, he apologized to the members present at the ceremony for trying to implement this controversial plan, but the English and German football officials announced that they are still not convinced that he is the right person to continue his work as the president of FIFA.

After the closed-door meeting of FIFA council members, the Swiss-Italian president of FIFA released a video and said: "We had a very good meeting today, where we were able to discuss the proposal of "FIFA Forward Enterprise", which was the main topic of discussion in today's FIFA Council meeting. I apologize for the mistakes we made in the communication and consultation process related to this project, which resulted in many consequences, but the important thing to remember is that this was a proposal, so by no means a deal or a done deal. The goal was simply to create more success stories like the ones that inspired people around the world during the 2026 FIFA World Cup because football is for everyone, everywhere.

While 56-year-old Johnny Infantino appeared to still have strong support from African officials, opposition from some of Europe's most influential football federations remained fierce.

After the meeting, Debbie Hewitt, the president of the English Football Association and a member of the FIFA Council, said that Infantino apologized and expressed regret for the way he informed and did not consult with the members of the Council; However, the requested documents about this plan have not been provided to the members.

One of the most frustrating issues was that none of our specific requests were answered; For example, a request to receive documents related to FIFA Forward Enterprise. I asked why these documents were not provided, but we were asked to submit our questions in writing.

Criticizing this process, he emphasized: He must answer these questions and if he does not answer now, he does not have the authority to be the president of FIFA. This issue was also raised in the meeting.

The head of the German Football Federation, Bernd Neuendorf, also called for a "completely new start" in FIFA and believes that reforming the management structure of this institution is not possible with the continuation of Infantino's presidency.

On the sidelines of this meeting, the issue of the US national team striker Folarin Balogun's case (the controversial red card he was given before the match against Belgium) was also raised; a decision that is said to have been made at the request of Donald Trump from Infantio.

Also, the possibility of Arsene Wenger's candidacy, FIFA's director of global football development, was raised in the election of the president of this organization, but sources close to the former head coach of Arsenal have rejected this speculation. However, Wenger is said to be unlikely to remain in his current role if Infantino is re-elected for another four-year term.