FIFA president Gianni Infantino apologised to his toughest critics at a showdown meeting of the ruling council in Zurich on Thursday, but he provided no new details or documents on the issues that concern them most.
No documents surfaced about the $4.2 billion World Cup sell-off plan that Infantino launched and then dropped in July. Nor did the meeting produce any details about the Folarin Balogun red card case at the World Cup, or about how U.S. President Donald Trump intervened to help the national team advance.
FIFA will, however, review whether to continue awarding the peace prize that was created to give to Trump last December.
Pressure over written evidence
European football officials pressed Infantino for written evidence about his secretive private equity plan for the World Cup, which triggered a global rift. Infantino asked them to submit written questions instead, FIFA vice president Debbie Hewitt said after the 3½-hour meeting.
“The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn’t answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president,” said Hewitt, who leads the English Football Association.
German leader Bernd Neuendorf, one of eight UEFA delegates on the 37-member FIFA Council that Infantino chairs, said the meeting failed to satisfy him. “No satisfactory answers were provided,” Neuendorf said. The council had not met since Infantino provoked the crisis.
“We need a person of integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the reputation of the association, which has undoubtedly been lost,” Neuendorf told reporters.
An apology and a contrite start
Infantino opened the meeting by apologising to his council colleagues for blindsiding them and creating a furore over his private investor plan. He developed that plan with Joshua Kushner, and media reports revealed it nine days after the World Cup final in July.
“He said that with some contrition,” Hewitt said.
UEFA moves against Infantino
UEFA is leading efforts to remove Infantino before or at the FIFA presidential election in March. Its position did not soften after Thursday’s meeting.
UEFA has also asked courts in the United States for the right to obtain evidence for a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland. The court filings allege possible mismanagement of FIFA finances, centring on the value Infantino placed on the intended subsidiary that would run tournament commercial rights.
That subsidiary was to be at least 20% owned by investors led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.