🚨 Crisis at FIFA: Gianni Infantino breaks his silence (Sky Sports)

🚨 Crisis at FIFA: Gianni Infantino breaks his silence (Sky Sports) The FIFA President breaks his silence. After several days of crisis linked to the abandoned plan to sell shares in the World Cup to private investors, Gianni Infantino and his number two, Mattias Grafström, broke their silence in an internal letter revealed by Sky Sports and The Times. " We offer our sincere apologies for these mistakes and commit to ensuring they do not happen again. With this in mind, we will carry out a necessary review, and a report will be presented to the FIFA Council at its next scheduled meeting ," they said. " With the withdrawal of the project, FIFA will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and fair procedures, and will take all necessary measures to protect and preserve its name and reputation ," the duo at the head of the governing body notably stated. In addition, The Times explained that Gianni Infantino plans to fight for his position after holding an emergency meeting this Wednesday in Morocco. As a reminder, today Portuguese legend Luis Figo strongly lashed out at the FIFA president, and The Times notably revealed that Infantino allegedly promised Morocco the hosting of the 2030 World Cup final in exchange for support for his re-election. The full text of the letter revealed by Sky Sports. "Dear Vice-Presidents, dear Members of the FIFA Council, We wish to share with you a joint summary regarding the meeting we held today with members of FIFA’s senior management at the FIFA offices in Rabat, Morocco. The purpose of this meeting was to address the events of recent days and to allow us to provide you with an update. First of all, the tremendous work of the FIFA Administration, which ensured the successful organization of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, was praised; this would not have been possible without the FIFA President, the FIFA Secretary General and the FIFA Administration speaking with one voice and working as one team. To avoid any doubt, the FIFA Secretary General and the senior management members present reaffirm their full support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, as the only official elected by FIFA’s 211 Member Associations. In return, the FIFA President reiterates his full support for the FIFA Secretary General and the FIFA Administration for their necessary and remarkable work in delivering his vision. It was discussed and agreed at the meeting that the processes, communications and interactions between the FIFA President, the FIFA Secretary General and the senior management team that support the delivery of this vision can and must always be continuously improved in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. We are fully convinced that the outcomes of today’s meeting will strengthen FIFA’s governance, help restore confidence in the organization and enable us to prepare for the major events and challenges ahead in a united and transparent manner, while continuing our mission to develop football around the world. In this context, we acknowledge that mistakes were made during the process of proposing the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). It was certainly not the intention to make the FIFA Council and FIFA’s Member Associations feel excluded from the process, and the situation should have been handled differently. We acknowledge that mistakes were also made after the proposal was leaked to the media. We offer our sincere apologies for these mistakes and commit to ensuring they do not happen again. With this in mind, we will carry out a necessary review and a report will be presented to the FIFA Council at its next scheduled meeting. Furthermore, as is already known, the proposal, which would have been submitted for approval by FIFA’s Member Associations and the FIFA Council, has now been withdrawn. With the project withdrawn, FIFA will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and compliance with legal procedures, and will take all necessary measures to protect and preserve its name and reputation. There are always lessons to be learned, and we will continue to improve our processes in light of this experience. In the present case, however, it is important to stress that, although mistakes were made, everything that was done was carried out in full compliance with FIFA’s regulatory framework. We will actively review with you how we can further support the development of football, through the FIFA Forward programme, for the benefit of FIFA’s 211 Member Associations, the Confederations and the Regional Associations. We both remain entirely at your disposal to answer any questions you may have on this matter and look forward to seeing you again in person very soon." This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.