Infantino to stay on as FIFA president after executive meeting
Gianni Infantino will remain FIFA president after senior executives at Wednesday's meeting in Morocco reaffirmed their support for him, despite criticism over an abandoned plan to sell off commercial and event operations to private investors.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is set to keep his position after receiving the backing of the organisation's senior executives at a meeting on Wednesday. The gathering took place at FIFA's Africa office in Rabat, Morocco, after Infantino summoned management board members to address growing criticism over his abandoned attempt to sell off commercial and event operations to private investors.
European football's governing body UEFA had already voiced its disapproval at the weekend, stating that it has lost confidence in Infantino. UEFA officials described the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal as a "shabby, back room, opaque deal". The criticism was echoed inside FIFA itself. Secretary general Mattias Grofstrom, who participated in Wednesday's talks, had sent an internal memo to staff the previous day in which he referred to a "sad and reproachable series of events" surrounding the controversy.
The meeting in Rabat appears to have eased internal tensions, at least publicly. In a statement released afterwards, Grofstrom and the management board reaffirmed their full support for Infantino as president. This means Infantino will remain in office, despite calls for accountability from within the football community. According to the BBC, more information is expected to follow as the story develops.
