Online Reporter
FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has APOLOGISED for his deplorable efforts to flog the World Cup — but has defiantly vowed to fight on.
The 56-year-old admitted mistakes were made over the handling of the proposed scheme to sell shares of the World Cup enterprise to private investors.
In a joint letter signed by Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, senior officials said: “We sincerely apologise for these errors and commit to them not happening again.
“We acknowledge that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media.
“With this in mind, we will conduct a necessary review, and a report will be presented to the FIFA Council at its next scheduled meeting.”
The letter confirmed that Fifa will carry out an internal review. The findings will then be presented to the Fifa Council at its next scheduled meeting. Officials insisted the proposal would have required approval from both Fifa’s 211 member associations and the Fifa Council.
They have acknowledged member associations and council members should not have felt excluded from the process.
And added that the proposal “should have been handled differently” — conceding further errors were made after details emerged to the public.
But it has been confirmed that it has now been taken “off the table” following the controversy.
The statement also contained a strongly worded warning after confidential details of the proposal were leaked. It said: “With the project withdrawn, Fifa will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation.”
But in spite of the apology, Fifa covered bases as they defended the legality of their actions.
They wrote: “Everything that was done, was done in full compliance with the Fifa regulatory framework.” The letter also added unanimous backing for Infantino from Fifa’s senior leadership following a meeting in Rabat, Morocco.
They detailed how the president, secretary general, and administration spoke with “one voice and working as one team”.
With Infantino set to continue in his present role, he will not be without his critics.
Ballon d’Or winner and Uefa advisor Luis Figo slammed the president for “the lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested” he has ever seen. In a scathing critique of Fifa‘s incumbent, he concluded: “It is too late to save his dignity but it is not too late to save football.”
Even former disgraced Fifa president Sepp Blatter publicly called for Lise Klaveness to succeed Infantino. He admitted: “The time is right for a woman to take the lead.”
Those publicly supporting Infantino are few to none, with Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin leading the pack. Ceferin snubbed the World Cup final following the fiasco surrounding Folarin Balogun’s suspended red card. And since then, Arsene Wenger has joined the ranks against Infantino. The Fifa president broke cover for the first time on Wednesday as he was seen in Morocco for an emergency meeting.
A Mercedes containing the beleaguered supremo was seen swooping into Fifa’s African base in Rabat.According to The Times, Infantino had been holed up in Rabat and has called senior Fifa staff to the Moroccan capital for the urgent gathering.—Sun.
