View noticesInfantino survives World Cup stake-sale crisis
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has resisted mounting calls to resign after seven hours of crisis talks in Morocco, with the organisation's management board reaffirming its "full support" for him, Sky Sports reports.
That backing came, notably, from secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, who days earlier had called the withdrawn World Cup stake-sale plans "a sad and reproachable series of events" – the pair were later seen together at a Women's Afcon match in Rabat.
Infantino had come under pressure after leaked proposals revealed that national associations were not consulted before being given a deadline of mid-September and offered a £30.1m incentive to back the plans.
In a letter to member associations, Infantino and Grafstrom apologised for "the errors" in the proposals, which were dropped on Saturday amid widespread criticism from across football.
A separate public statement was more combative, warning Fifa would "no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity" and vowing to defend its reputation.
Fifa said it had not intended for associations to feel excluded, conceded the process "should have been handled differently", and promised a review, with findings to go before the Fifa Council of 37 national representatives.
The fallout has been severe.
Arsene Wenger, Fifa's chief of global football development, distanced himself from the plans, while Infantino's senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned on Friday, calling the proposals a "bad deal".
The Jordan FA accused Infantino of "blackmail"; Uefa said it had "lost confidence in the current Fifa leadership"; and the FA called for a "full and robust review" of the organisation.
Former winger Luis Figo went further, describing Infantino's conduct in strongly personal terms, while Canadian prime minister Mark Carney – whose country co-hosted this summer's World Cup – said the episode should prove fatal to Infantino's position.
According to Sky Sports' analysis, Infantino believes his mandate from the 211 member associations means only they can remove him, and he is said to retain support in South America, Africa and parts of Asia.
Should associations want him out sooner, they could pursue a vote of no confidence at an emergency Fifa Council or Congress.
Otherwise, attention turns to the presidential election in March, with 18 November set as the deadline for candidates to declare.
Sky Sports names several potential challengers under discussion, though none has signalled intent to run: Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is seen as uninterested; Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of the Asian Football Confederation, runner-up in the 2016 presidential vote, opposes the stake sale; Concacaf president Victor Montagliani's confederation has also rejected the plan despite historically close ties to Infantino; and Uefa's Aleksander Ceferin – seen as offering the sharpest ideological contrast to Infantino's leadership – has not publicly expressed interest in the role.
The original proposal, Fifa Forward Enterprise, sought to raise up to $4.2bn (£3.1bn) by selling minority stakes in a vehicle valued at roughly $20bn (£15bn), which Fifa said could unlock more than $10bn in football development funding over four years.
SOURCE: Sky Sports