The FIFA Council met behind closed doors in Zurich on Thursday for three and a half hours. Gianni Infantino apologized at the start. European federation chiefs left saying he had not answered a single question they came with.
The apology was specific and narrow. Infantino said sorry for mistakes in the communication and consultation process around the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan. He did not apologize for the plan.
What the Plan Was
FIFA Forward Enterprise was a $4.2 billion scheme to create a company holding the commercial interests of FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, and sell a minority stake to private investors.
It was unveiled in July and scrapped within days after a revolt led by UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF.
Infantino’s defense of it has not changed. It was “a proposal and in no way a done deal,” he said, intended to “invest more in our member associations, as opposed to replacing support from existing resources.”
The Europeans Are Not Accepting It
Bernd Neuendorf, the German FA president and a FIFA Council member, was blunt.
“We asked a great many critical questions, but there were no satisfactory answers from my point of view,” he said. He called for a complete restart and added that “this is not possible with Gianni.”
Debbie Hewitt, the English FA chair and a FIFA vice-president, confirmed the apology and then dismantled the rest of it.
“We didn’t get answers to anything that we had specifically requested,” Hewitt said. She said Infantino is “not fit to be FIFA president” if he will not answer questions in writing, and that “from my position nothing has shifted.”
Her other open questions, she said, were the suspension of United States forward Folarin Balogun during the World Cup and the FIFA Peace Prize awarded to President Donald Trump.
The Money Is How This Gets Settled
FIFA was expected to present a $6.35 billion development fund covering 2027 through 2030, per an AP report based on a September 28 Infantino letter to the six confederation heads.
The terms: $25 million for each of FIFA’s 211 member associations, up from an original $10 million proposal, and $99 million for each of the six confederations. More than $3.5 billion would come from reserves swollen by the 48-team 2026 men’s World Cup, with FIFA estimating roughly $15 billion in revenue for the 2022 to 2026 cycle.
It has been presented rather than approved. Formal approval is slated for the congress.
“FIFA’s financial success must serve football and all FIFA’s 211 member associations,” Infantino wrote, saying he was confident of reaching a sustainable outcome.
Why the Timing Is Not Subtle
Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and is seeking reelection at the March 18, 2027 congress in Rabat. Challengers must declare by November 18.
So a $6.35 billion fund landed in front of 211 voting associations five weeks before the nomination deadline. Raising the per-association figure from $10 million to $25 million during that window is either excellent timing or the whole strategy.
In August, UEFA announced it was preparing a criminal complaint in Switzerland over possible financial mismanagement in the sell-off deal and asked U.S. courts to authorize discovery. UEFA’s 55 members are more than a quarter of FIFA’s voting membership.
The Arithmetic Favors Him
That is the uncomfortable conclusion. Support for Infantino appears to remain strong among African officials, and 211 associations each getting $25 million is a persuasive argument that requires no answers to any of Hewitt’s questions.
Europe has the complaint, the discovery request and the quotes. Infantino has the money and the votes. Thursday showed which one of those moves a council meeting.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.