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Under-fire FIFA president Gianni Infantino has shaken off calls to resign – for now – with the backing of the governing body’s leaders, though apologised for “mistakes” in his botched attempts to sell off a stake in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
In a statement released after seven hours of crisis talks in Morocco, FIFA said its management board had re-affirmed their “full support” for Infantino – including secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, only days after he had labelled the World Cup plans “a sad and reproachable series of events”.<\/p>\n
Infantino had faced mounting calls to resign following the leak of previously undiscussed plans to sell off a stake in the World Cup, which a number of associations said they had not been consulted on – with a deadline to back the proposals barely a month away in mid-September, with a \u00a330.1m incentive to accept.<\/p>\n
In a letter seen by Sky News <\/em>sent to national associations and signed by Infantino and Grafstrom, the pair wrote that they “sincerely apologised for the errors” around the proposals, which were withdrawn on Saturday after days of criticism from around world football.<\/p>\n In a second statement released on FIFA.com, the governing body hit back at its critics by defending its decision to withdraw the plans and said it would “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”.<\/p>\n FIFA said it had “not been the intention\u2026 for member associations to feel excluded from the process” and admitted it should have been “handled differently”, while promising a report would be presented at the next FIFA Council, comprising 37 representatives from around world football.<\/p>\n Infantino and FIFA had been criticised inside and outside of its own walls over the plans with Arsene Wenger, its chief of global football development, distancing himself publicly while Infantino’s personal senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro quit his role on Friday, labelling the proposals a “bad deal” and “irresponsible”.<\/p>\n The head of the Jordan FA went further by accusing Infantino of “blackmail”, while UEFA announced it had “lost confidence in the current FIFA leadership” and the FA called for a “full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership”.<\/p>\n