Gianni Infantino will meet senior FIFA officials in Morocco on Wednesday as he attempts to stabilise his position after the collapse of his plan to sell part of the commercial rights to the World Cup.
The FIFA president has faced intense criticism, including personal attacks, since presenting the proposal to the organisation’s 211 member associations last week.
The plan involved selling a 20% stake in a new commercial rights body to private investors in an attempt to raise $4.2bn. Critics also objected to the proposed involvement of a company with family links to US President Donald Trump.
Infantino withdrew the proposal on Friday and apologised for the division it had caused. However, the decision has not eased the opposition, particularly from UEFA, which accused him of selling the soul of football and said it no longer had confidence in his leadership.
The backlash has raised questions over Infantino’s bid to win a fourth term at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in March. His re-election had appeared virtually certain only two months ago.
A number of European football associations have withdrawn their support for the Swiss-Italian. More damaging for Infantino may be the criticism emerging from inside FIFA.
FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom told staff in an internal memo that he regretted the “sad and reproachable series of events” that had resulted in the proposal being “permanently abandoned”, according to two sources who spoke to Reuters.
“Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go. The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue…,” Grafstrom wrote. The memo did not refer to Infantino by name.
His comments followed criticism from FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who said employees had been “deceived” by the plan and described it as “the project of one person”.
Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned last week in protest at the proposal. Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also sought to distance himself from the project on Tuesday.
Wenger, FIFA’s chief of Global Football Development, said he had not been involved in drafting the proposal and argued that withdrawing it had been “absolutely necessary”.
Infantino has spent the past week in Morocco, which will co-host the 2030 World Cup. The country’s football association has already confirmed that it will continue to support him.
The immediate priority at Wednesday’s meeting, which will take place at FIFA’s Africa office in Sale, across the Bou Regreg river from Rabat, is expected to be securing Infantino’s position until the election.
FIFA rules allow an Extraordinary Congress to be called if at least 43 member associations submit a formal written request.
A report in The Times of London said on Monday that UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were prepared to try to force Infantino out by paralysing FIFA. The report also claimed they could establish alternative competitions if he refused to resign.
Concacaf, the AFC and FIFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. UEFA said it had no comment.
Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and the AFC have supported UEFA’s position, although that does not guarantee every national association within those confederations will do the same.
Qatar, hosts of the 2022 World Cup, as well as Kuwait, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, have publicly declared their continued loyalty to Infantino despite the AFC’s stance.
The FIFA president has traditionally enjoyed significant backing outside football’s established European and South American centres. Many less wealthy associations depend on FIFA funding to maintain their operations.
Those associations were the main audience for Infantino’s commercial proposal, which promised each national body supporting the plan a dividend of between $20m and $40m at the beginning of next year.
Senior African football administrators have sent messages of support to Infantino as he seeks backing from the continent’s 54 FIFA members. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has not yet adopted a formal position.
The executive committee of the Oceania Football Confederation, the smallest and least wealthy of FIFA’s six confederations, will meet next Wednesday to decide its approach.
“I think it’s going to be really interesting for the international football community over the next few weeks,” New Zealand Football boss Andrew Pragnell said on Tuesday.
“It’s really important for a country like New Zealand to make a lot of contact with its confederation. It helps when you act in unison with your confederation.”
Under FIFA’s voting rules, San Marino’s vote carries the same weight as those of World Cup winners Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Spain. San Marino’s men’s side are ranked 211th and last in the world rankings.
Infantino’s prospects of extending his presidency until 2031 are also helped by the absence of an obvious rival for the March election.
Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali bin Hussein has stood for the FIFA presidency twice. He lost to Sepp Blatter in 2015 and finished third behind Infantino and AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa the following year.
Prince Ali criticised FIFA’s handling of the current crisis on Tuesday, accusing the organisation of “blackmail”. He said FIFA had offered to help resolve problems in exchange for support for Infantino.
“We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now,” Prince Ali wrote on social media.
Reuters has contacted FIFA for a response to those allegations.
The dispute began after Infantino’s plan to introduce private investment into the World Cup for the first time triggered three days of unprecedented internal conflict in football administration last week.
The 56-year-old Swiss-Italian abandoned the proposal late on Friday, but his withdrawal did not restore the authority he had previously enjoyed at the head of the governing body.
Opponents now face the task of finding a candidate before the 18 November deadline for nominations. That person would need to appeal both to football’s traditional, wealthier powers and to the less affluent associations that have provided Infantino with much of his support.
