RABAT: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has received the “full support” of senior directors on Wednesday but world football’s governing body apologized for the controversy of the now-shelved plan to open the World Cup to private investment.
Facing a barrage of criticism following the aborted plan, FIFA’s leadership acknowledged “errors,” while nonetheless backing under-fire Infantino following a crisis meeting in Morocco.
Infantino has come under increasing pressure, even from within his organization, over his handling of the proposal, and calls for him to step down had grown since he abandoned it last Saturday.
In a statement Wednesday, FIFA’s leadership acknowledged “that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media.”
FIFA floated the plan, saying it could raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for a new commercial subsidiary, called the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which it proposed would run events such as the World Cup and Club World Cup.
