Infantino apologises for World Cup furor but leaves critics unhappy

ZURICH (AP):

Gianni Infantino apologised to FIFA’s ruling council yesterday for “mistakes” in his secretive investment plan for the World Cup but didn’t give details sought by his toughest critics, who want to oust him as the president of football’s governing body.

Football officials came to the meeting in Zurich hoping to receive more information about two of the biggest controversies that have surrounded Infantino this year: his now-aborted US$4.2 billion World Cup sell-off plan and the Folarin Balogun red-card case at the World Cup where President Donald Trump intervened.

Despite Infantino’s apology, European delegates said they left the meeting disappointed about what they saw as a lack of clarity about the two disputes.

“No satisfactory answers were provided,” said Germany’s Bernd Neuendorf, one of eight delegates from European football confederation UEFA in the 37-member FIFA Council that Infantino chairs.

Infantino provided no documents about the US$4.2 billion World Cup sell-off plan he launched and quickly dropped in July amid a fierce backlash led from Europe.

Nor did he give details to explain the Folarin Balogun red-card case at the World Cup or how US President Donald Trump intervened to help the national team forward, European delegates at the meeting later told reporters.

FIFA will, however, review whether to continue awarding the peace prize that was created to give to Trump last December.

Infantino frustrated European delegates by asking for questions in writing at their only meeting before the November 18 deadline to propose a candidate to oppose him at FIFA’s presidential election in March.

“The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn’t answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president,” said Debbie Hewitt, who leads the English Football Association and is a FIFA vice-president.

She said Infantino offered his apology “with some contrition”.

Infantino was pressed by European officials for written evidence about his secretive private equity plan for a World Cup commercial rights subsidiary with investor Joshua Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Known as FIFA Forward Enterprise, the proposal provoked a global rift and the biggest crisis of Infantino’s near 11-year presidency.

The FIFA president didn’t speak to media after the three and a half hour meeting in Zurich but issued a video statement.

“I apologised for the mistakes that we made in relation to the communication and consultation process related to the FIFA Forward Enterprise project, which then led to many consequences,” Infantino said.

He noted that it was “just a proposal, so in no way a done deal”.

FIFA said in a separate statement that details of the investor project “remain confidential due to ongoing legal proceedings in the United States”.

The council is the main decision-making body at FIFA with a global spread of officials — most are presidents of their national federation, like Cindy Parlow Cone of the US — who are elected by their continental football bodies for four-year terms.

FIFA pays each an annual stipend of $250,000, with $300,000 for the continental presidents.

European football’s ruling body UEFA is leading attempts to remove Infantino before or at the FIFA presidential election in March.

Infantino infuriated football leaders in Europe, North America, and Asia by working for months in secret on the Kushner plan. It deepened a long-standing perception in UEFA that the FIFA boss plans his biggest projects without consulting them.

“We need a person of integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the reputation of the association, which has undoubtedly been lost,” Neuendorf told reporters.