New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) FIFA chief Gianni Infantino will hold a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday after his plan to sell off FIFA’s commercial and event operations faced fierce criticism.
Infantino was forced to withdraw his plan to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a company to run the commercial and operational aspects of FIFA’s tournaments, after it triggered widespread opposition from UEFA, Concacaf, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and several national associations, as well as criticism from within FIFA.
According to the Sky Sports report, Infantino has asked senior leaders of football’s world governing body to attend the meeting in Rabat.
FIFA’s chief of global football development Arsene Wenger has backed the decision to withdraw the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, saying abandoning the project was ‘absolutely necessary and beyond question’ and reaffirming his belief in an independent and transparent world governing body.
In a statement, Wenger clarified that he had no involvement in the strategic proposal, which sought to create a commercial subsidiary to manage FIFA’s major competition rights, including the FIFA World Cup, while allowing private investors to acquire an equity stake.
UEFA threatened to take legal action in response to the controversial proposal, and the Football Association of Wales has officially withdrawn its support for Infantino’s re-election bid as FIFA president.
Moreover, the FA is set to withdraw support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino; Wales became the first football association to officially withdraw support for Infantino’s re-election as FIFA president.
In March next year, Infantino is set to stand for re-election for a final term as president and would need 106 votes from Fifa’s 211 members to win.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) has confirmed “its withdrawal of support for the candidature of Mr Gianni Infantino for re-election as Fifa president for the 2027-2031 term”.
–IANS
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