FIFA sought to steady the ship on Wednesday after the collapse of its controversial World Cup commercial rights proposal, with the organization's senior leadership reaffirming its support for President Gianni Infantino while issuing a formal apology to member associations over the way the plan was handled.
Following a crisis meeting in Rabat, Morocco, FIFA acknowledged that mistakes were made during the process that led to the now-abandoned proposal, which would have involved selling a minority stake in a new commercial rights entity to private investors. The governing body said it regretted that national associations and FIFA Council members felt excluded from discussions and pledged to review its decision-making process.
The proposal, which was withdrawn last Friday after widespread opposition, had envisioned selling a 20% stake in a newly created commercial rights company in a deal reportedly valued at about $4.2 billion. The plan quickly became one of the biggest governance controversies of Infantino's presidency, drawing criticism from football confederations, clubs and senior officials, while raising fresh questions about his leadership ahead of FIFA's presidential election in March.
