FIFA president Gianni Infantino has apologised for the “mistake” created by a controversial proposal to sell stakes in FIFA’s competitions to private investors.
But he will remain in the FIFA presidency after winning the backing of senior officials at a meeting in Morocco.
After the proposals were dropped amid fierce criticism, Infantino summoned members of the executive board to FIFA’s Africa office in Rabat, Morocco, on Wednesday.
Four hours after the meeting ended, FIFA issued a statement expressing support for Infantino.
Earlier, late last week, European football’s governing body UEFA had said it had lost confidence in Infantino.
UEFA described the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal as a “low-quality, secret and opaque deal.”
Criticism also came from within FIFA, including from its secretary general Mathias Grafström, who was also present at Wednesday’s meeting.
In a memo sent to FIFA staff on Tuesday, he called the situation a “regrettable and condemnable turn of events.”
In a statement issued after the meeting, however, Grafström and the FIFA executive board “reaffirmed their full support” for Infantino as FIFA president.
A letter signed by Infantino and Grafström was sent to FIFA’s vice-presidents, council and 211 member associations. The BBC has seen the letter.
In it, they “sincerely apologise” for their mistake and “pledge that such an event will not happen again in future.”
After the meeting, Infantino and Grafström were seen enjoying a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match together in Rabat.
Infantino had proposed giving each member association $40 million (£30 million) if it backed the plan for private investment in FIFA tournaments, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, through a new arm called the FFE.
FIFA said the “mistakes” over the FFE had been acknowledged at Wednesday’s meeting.
It said the FIFA council and member associations should “not feel excluded from the process,” which “should have been handled differently.”
The governing body also said it acknowledged “the mistake that was made even after the proposal was leaked to the media.”
The Times first broke the news of Infantino’s plan on 28 July.
But in the statement, FIFA also said that “no attack on integrity, good governance and due process will be tolerated any longer, and all necessary steps will be taken to protect and safeguard the organisation’s reputation,” according to the BBC.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report