RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 6 sourcesGianni Infantino called a meeting with FIFA executives to discuss the state of the federation amid controversy, according to multiple reports on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
The FIFA president is reportedly asking the leaders to meet on Wednesday, Aug. 5 in Morocco after he scrapped a proposed plan to sell a minority stake in the organization to private investors.
USA TODAY has reached out to FIFA but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Several FIFA executives voiced their displeasure at the idea of selling the organization to raise billions of dollars. FIFA's secretary general Mattias Grafstrom wrote an internal letter that said the project, called FIFA Forward Enterprise, was “a sad and reproachable series of events – which were thankfully concluded with the FFE project permanently abandoned."
COO Kevin Lamour said the organization had been "deceived" by the plans and Arsene Wenger, the ex-Arsenal manager now working as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development, put out a statement that emphasized, "I was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports."
The proposal also received fierce criticism from Concacaf and UEFA , and both organizations said they do not trust the organization after the plan was shelved.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, the president of Jordan's Football Association and a former FIFA presidential candidate, called out FIFA on X , formerly Twitter, about how it handled this summer's World Cup . It was Jordan's first time appearing in the tournament. He said that travel expenses and fan treatment to the United States were "enormous hurdles." He added that his team has not been paid for appearing in the final of the Arab Cup in Qatar in December, which is an event sanctioned by FIFA.
His final comments were directed at Infantino, saying that the organization attempted to "blackmail" him for his support of Infantino's reelection, which is in March.
"It is clear the problem really is with leadership," Al Hussein said. "For months, FIFA has been refusing to help us on any of these or other matters - until it was verbally communicated to me during the World Cup that if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out. We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now. But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that."
The men's World Cup this summer was the largest yet with a field of 48 teams playing 104 matches in 16 cities across three countries and breaking viewership and attendance records. The women's competition kicks off next summer with the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
Contributing: Jon Arnold , Seth Vertelney
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gianni Infantino called meeting of FIFA leaders amid controversy | Reports
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