Infantino apologizes, but UEFA: 'He cannot be president'

Heated tones, very harsh clashes and increasingly irreconcilable positions: this is the summary of the FIFA Council held in Zurich, where UEFA once again asked Gianni Infantino to take a step back from leading world football; while number 1, strong in the support of the majority of the other continental confederations, reiterated that he has no intention of stepping aside.

Three and a half hours of meeting defined as "very frank" by Debbie Hewitt, president of the Football Association and vice-president of FIFA, which however did not change the positions between the contenders.

FIFA has presented a 6.35 billion dollar development plan for the next four years thanks to resources linked to the commercial success of the last World Cup. In a nutshell, he proposed to distribute 25 million dollars to each of the 211 federations. This is a figure significantly higher than previous forecasts. Infantino can therefore capitalize on this success in view of next spring's elections. But not all 36 members of the Council welcomed the initiative, sensing an electoral ploy. The conflict is not abating, with UEFA likely to soon indicate its own candidate to oppose the Italian-Swiss manager.

During the Council meeting, Infantino apologized for "not having informed" the members of the Executive of the FFE plan, which envisaged the privatization of the World Cup's commercial rights, although he insisted "that the objective was to increase investments and channel them effectively". "In the ten years since I was president - he said - we have gone from 1 million dollars to a 25 million dollar plan for each of the 211 affiliated federations".

Opponents again asked to have documents on the project available. "Infantino must provide answers; if he doesn't do so, he will not be eligible to hold the position of president of FIFA", said Hewitt, explaining that during the meeting clarifications were also requested on the case of the American footballer Folarin Balogun, whose one-match ban was canceled during the last World Cup, and on the Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump.

As for the US footballer, FIFA responded, claiming that the Legal Committee will carry out a review of the disciplinary procedures and that this will be presented at the next Council meeting in December. The World Football Association has set up a working group to examine FIFA's governance framework, while the Football Social Responsibility Committee has been tasked with evaluating the FIFA Peace Prize: a decision will be made at its next meeting.

However, not all voices are against Infantino who, despite UEFA's opposition, seems to have reunited the group of his supporters from Asia, Africa to South America. "I am sure that Gianni Infantino is the right president. The majority wants Gianni Infantino to stay," said Ahmed Yahya, president of the Mauritanian Football Federation, at the end of the FIFA Council in Zurich. Yahya defended the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams and "Fifa's principle of equality", stressing that "every member association has an equal right to vote at the Fifa Congress, regardless of the wealth or size of the country".

Regarding calls for reform, Yahya said changes should not be limited to FIFA alone, but should also extend to national football federations and continental confederations.