Infantino Apology Fails to Calm FIFA Council Critics

The Infantino apology landed in a Zurich boardroom on Thursday, and it did almost nothing to calm the people who matter most. FIFA's president told the governing body's ruling council he was sorry for the mistakes behind his secret plan to sell off a slice of the World Cup, according to the Associated Press. Then he left without handing over the paperwork his critics had been begging for.

It was the first time the thirty-seven-member FIFA Council had met since the whole mess blew up, and the room was tense. The meeting ran for three and a half hours behind closed doors. Afterwards, European delegates said they walked out frustrated, and one of them put it bluntly: no satisfactory answers were provided.

What Gianni Infantino actually apologized for

The plan at the centre of all this is called FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE. It would have created a new company to control the commercial rights to the men's and women's World Cups and the Club World Cup, then sold minority stakes to private investors. Those investors were led by venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner and a relative of President Donald Trump by marriage, according to CBS Sports.

The Infantino apology did not cover the idea itself. In a video statement released after the meeting, he said he was sorry for "the mistakes that we made in relation to the communication and consultation process" around the project. He also stressed it was "just a proposal, so in no way a done deal," and argued it was meant to let FIFA invest more in its member associations.

Debbie Hewitt, who chairs England's Football Association and sits as a FIFA vice-president, told the BBC the apology carried "some contrition." She also said the core regret was not bringing the plan to the council in the first place. "If you regret it that deeply, share it with us," she said.

Why critics say the Infantino apology is not enough

Words are one thing and receipts are another. Delegates wanted the actual documents behind the sell-off plan, which was valued at around four point two billion dollars and dropped within days of the backlash. According to Al Jazeera, Infantino instead asked European officials to submit their questions in writing, and promised answers "in due course."

That did not go down well. "The man has to answer those questions," Hewitt said. "If he doesn't answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the FIFA president." German football chief Bernd Neuendorf added that football needs "a person of integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the reputation of the association."

FIFA's own position is that details of the investor project stay confidential because of ongoing legal proceedings in the United States. That is a tough sell to delegates who say they simply want to know why a deal this big was cooked up without them.

The Balogun red card and the Trump Peace Prize

The FFE plan was not the only thing on the table. Council members also pressed Infantino on the case of American striker Folarin Balogun, whose automatic ban after a red card at the World Cup was suspended after Trump personally asked for the decision to be reviewed, according to the BBC. Hewitt called it one of the biggest issues, warning that once behaviour starts to influence what happens on the pitch, "it's a dark day for football."

Then there is the FIFA Peace Prize, a trophy created last December and handed to Trump at the World Cup draw. FIFA says it will now review whether the award should continue at all. The legal committee will look at changing the disciplinary code so a red card ban can never be suspended again, and both reviews are due back to the council in December.

The race to stop a fourth term

Here is where the story gets properly spicy for football nerds. Infantino is standing for re-election in March, in a vote set for Rabat, Morocco, a close political ally. Rivals have until the eighteenth of November to put forward a challenger, and so far nobody credible has stepped up. Former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega says he wants to run, but he is unlikely to gather the five letters of support needed, according to the BBC. European officials have reportedly floated Arsene Wenger, who currently works as FIFA's head of global football development.

Meanwhile, UEFA is not waiting around. It has asked United States courts for access to evidence for a criminal complaint it plans to file in Switzerland, alleging possible mismanagement of FIFA finances in how the planned company was valued. FIFA's lawyers have called that a "smear campaign."

Why Africa and Qatar may save him

Infantino is not short on friends. FIFA voters from Africa, which has fifty-four of the two hundred and eleven member federations, have long decided who wins and who stays in power. Ahmed Yahya, who leads Mauritania's football federation, said "we see Gianni as the right person to continue leading football," according to the AP.

It also helps that Infantino is offering every member federation an extra fifteen million dollars in funding over the next four years, on top of the ten million each already expected through twenty thirty. The next council meeting happens in Doha, Qatar, on the sixteenth of December, hosted by a country that remains loyal to him.

So the Infantino apology may have bought some time, but the real fight is only starting. The written answers, the December reviews, and the November deadline for a challenger will show whether this crisis fades or finally costs him the job. Keep an eye on our sports coverage as it develops.