RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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x whatsapp-stroke copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info By Kevin Hand and Reuters Published On 6 Aug 2026 6 Aug 2026 FIFA’s bid to move past the biggest internal crisis of President Gianni Infantino’s reign is unlikely to end scrutiny of how world football is governed as questions linger over whether promised reforms will lead to meaningful change before the March presidential election.
After FIFA’s leadership gathered in Rabat to publicly reaffirm support for Infantino , the world football governing body apologised on Wednesday to its 211 members for mistakes surrounding the abandoned proposal to sell a slice of the World Cup’s commercial future.
FIFA also pledged to review the processes that led to the controversy that sparked the fiercest revolt of Infantino’s decade-long tenure after national federations complained they had been sidelined.
In a statement issued after Wednesday’s meeting, FIFA acknowledged that the proposal “should have been handled differently” and said it was not its intention for the FIFA Council or associations to feel excluded from the process.
UEFA, however, reaffirmed on Thursday its boycott of FIFA and its events. Al Jazeera takes a closer look at where the standoff is currently positioned.
As the dust settles, a review will now be conducted before a report is presented to the council at its next meeting. The conciliatory tone marked a stark contrast with the increasingly public criticism that forced FIFA into a retreat.
However, FIFA can no longer dodge questions raised by several confederations, leagues and national associations over how major strategic decisions are made and communicated, and the concerns extend beyond the doomed commercial rights proposal.
The European Leagues criticised FIFA over what it described as an unrealistically short four-week assessment timeline on a separate proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup from 48 to 64 teams.
The body, which represents more than 1,300 European clubs, reinforced complaints that stakeholders are too often presented with decisions rather than consulted on them.
However, FIFA insisted that all actions taken over the commercial rights proposal complied with its regulations and stressed that mistakes were related to process and communications rather than breaches of governance rules.
FIFA also tried to present a united front, warning critics that with the project now abandoned, it would “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process”.
For Infantino, the immediate priority has been containing the political fallout before March’s presidential election in Morocco, where he will seek a fourth term through 2031.
Wednesday’s meeting delivered that objective with FIFA’s management board and Secretary-General Mattias Grafstrom publicly endorsing the president while Infantino returned their backing by praising the administration’s work.
Grafstrom had sent an internal memo to staff lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” and although he did not mention Infantino by name, he noted: “Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go.”
Any suggestion of lingering tensions, however, appeared to have been set aside publicly with Infantino later posting a photo of him and Grafstrom smiling for the camera and giving a thumbs-up at a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match in Rabat.
Several influential stakeholders, including European football’s governing body UEFA, have openly questioned Infantino’s leadership while criticism has also emerged from confederations like CONCACAF, which runs the game in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and the Asian Football Confederation.
UEFA confirmed to Al Jazeera on Tuesday that it had issued a “document procurement letter” to FIFA, which is a move to prevent the deletion or destruction of anything that may be used as evidence before any legal action.
On Thursday, UEFA revealed that its boycott of FIFA and its events remains in place as Infantino’s standdown and apology did not meet their key conditions for returning.
“First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again,” UEFA’s latest statement read.
“UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency. That position holds.”
Infantino continues to enjoy strong support from many smaller associations, particularly across Africa and Asia, where FIFA development funding remains central to national football programmes.
Infantino still appears well placed politically with no viable challenger emerging before the presidential election, but the controversy has shifted the spotlight onto FIFA’s internal decision-making.
Any future proposals that involve commercial strategy, tournament expansion or governance reforms are likely to face significantly greater demands for transparency, consultation and accountability.
On Wednesday, the European Leagues – which includes the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A – called for governance reform of FIFA on top of its questioning of the 64-team World Cup.
The European Leagues described Infantino’s proposal to spin off a FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) as “dangerous” and said it pointed to deeper concerns about how the governing body operates.
The FFE spin-off, valued by FIFA at $20bn, would have taken control of the football body’s money-making commercial and tournament operations, such as the World Cup, through at least 2038.
The European Leagues said the plan raised “serious questions about FIFA’s governance, internal culture and decision-making”.
“Now more than ever, FIFA requires governance reform that ensures that all relevant stakeholders have a formal role in decisions that shape the future of our game.”
Portugal and Real Madrid great Luis Figo also called for Infantino to ste...
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