FIFA president Gianni Infantino apologised to members of the organisation’s ruling council, but failed to satisfy critics demanding answers over his abandoned private investment plan for the World Cup.
The three-and-a-half-hour meeting on Thursday produced no new documents on the proposed 4.2 billion dollar commercial rights sell-off, which Infantino launched and dropped in July. He also provided no details about the Folarin Balogun red-card case at the World Cup or the intervention by US president Donald Trump on behalf of the United States forward.
Infantino began the meeting by expressing contrition for blindsiding colleagues and creating a dispute over the plan, which involved venture capitalist Joshua Kushner. Debbie Hewitt, a FIFA vice-president and head of the English Football Association, said he had apologised “with some contrition”.
European football officials pressed for written evidence about the proposal. Hewitt said Infantino had asked them to submit their questions in writing.
“The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn’t answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president,” Hewitt said afterwards.
UEFA is leading efforts to remove Infantino before or at the FIFA presidential election in March. Bernd Neuendorf, the German football chief and one of eight UEFA delegates on the 37-member FIFA Council, said the meeting had done little to alter that position.
“No satisfactory answers were provided,” Neuendorf told reporters. “We need a person of integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the reputation of the association, which has undoubtedly been lost.”
UEFA has also asked US courts for permission to obtain evidence for a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland. Court filings allege possible mismanagement of FIFA finances over the value assigned to the proposed subsidiary that would have managed tournament commercial rights.
The subsidiary was intended to be at least 20 per cent owned by investors led by Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner.
FIFA will meanwhile review whether to continue awarding a peace prize created to be presented to Trump in December.
