Infantino proposes external Fifa review amid pressure over scrapped funding plan

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has written to the Fifa Council and all national football associations proposing an external review of how the governing body operates, intended to recommend possible improvements. Ahead of next month's Council meeting, he is also calling for consultation on further strengthening Fifa's decision-making processes, including the role of the president and practical steps to boost transparency, participation and accountability in major strategic decisions.

The move comes as Infantino faces mounting pressure following the collapse of his Fifa Forward Enterprise plan, which would have sold a stake in World Cup and other competition rights to private investors and triggered significant criticism. In his letter, Infantino says he has spent recent weeks listening to concerns, and insists the plan never involved giving up Fifa's control or authority over sporting decisions. He argues that details became public before Fifa's internal institutional process was complete, creating a false impression that decisions had already been made.

Background

Infantino's letter follows a demand from Uefa and Concacaf, the governing bodies for European and North/Central American and Caribbean football, that Fifa pay $10m to each of its 211 member associations from its cash reserves. The now-abandoned plan would have created a new company to manage commercial and ticketing rights across all Fifa competitions, with 21% of it sold to a private investment firm.

Infantino maintains that the plan's failure does not reduce Fifa's ambition to reinvest more of its earnings into football, and says the organisation will keep exploring sustainable ways to grow its resources. Debbie Hewitt, chair of England's Football Association and a Fifa vice-president, recently urged Infantino to release all documents related to the plan. The 56-year-old, who intends to seek a fourth term as president in March 2027, faces separate legal action being prepared by Uefa in US courts over the affair.