FIFA President Infantino Apologizes to Council, but Critics Remain Unsatisfied

FIFA Council meeting is set to run more than three hours as President Gianni Infantino apologizes to members, but critics want more.

Gianni Infantino apologized to his staunchest critics but offered no new details or documents on FIFA's issues of most concern at a meeting of its governing council on Thursday.

There is no record of the $4.2 billion World Cup sales plan he launched in July and abandoned. There are no details on Folarin Balogun's red card case at the World Cup and how US President Donald Trump has intervened to help the national team progress.

List of 4 items List 1 of 4 The French Football Federation asks fans and students to keep politics out of stadiums.

List 2 of 4 Real Madrid player Vinicius says he was targeted by referees

List 3 of 4 Manchester United's Martinez uses social media to defend his criticism of the club

List 4 of 4 Has Yamal surpassed Messi and Mbappe as a 19-year-old footballer?

At the end of the list, world soccer's governing body, FIFA, will consider whether to go ahead with awarding the Peace Prize, which is due to be presented to Trump in December.

FIFA vice-president Debbie Hewitt said after the three-and-a-half-hour meeting that Infantino asked them to submit written questions to European soccer officials for written evidence about his secretive World Cup plan that sparked a global rift.

Hewitt, who heads the FA, said: "The man has to answer these questions. If he doesn't answer these questions, no, he is not fit to be FIFA president."

European soccer's governing body, Uefa, has been pushing for Infantino's ouster before or during FIFA's presidential election in March, and there was little to change that view on Thursday.

"There was no satisfactory answer," said German soccer president Bernd Neuendorf, one of eight Uefa representatives on the 37-member FIFA council, which Infantino chairs. They have not met since Infantino sparked the crisis.

"We need someone with integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the association's credibility, which has undoubtedly been lost," Nuendorf told reporters.

Infantino opened the meeting by apologizing to his council colleagues for ignoring them and creating outrage over his private investor plan with venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, which was revealed in media reports nine days after the World Cup final in July.

"He said it with some regret," Hewitt said.

Uefa has also asked the US courts for evidence to file a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland. Court filings indicate possible financial mismanagement by FIFA in the value it placed on the commercial rights of its subsidiaries.

At least 20 percent of its shares were to be owned by investors led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump's son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner.