Infantino Calls FIFA Crisis Meeting in Morocco as Backlash Over Scrapped Sell-Off Grows

Gianni Infantino has summoned FIFA's most senior leaders to an emergency meeting in Rabat on Wednesday as the fallout from his abandoned plan to sell off the governing body's commercial and event operations continues to widen. The FIFA president, who has spent the past week in Morocco, is now trying to contain a revolt that has drawn open criticism from three of the most powerful figures in the world game, casting a shadow over what should have been a celebratory summer following the 2026 World Cup.

What was FIFA Forward Enterprise?

FIFA Forward Enterprise, known as FFE, was unveiled at the end of July as a new commercial subsidiary. It would have brought together FIFA's broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing rights alongside the operational running of its tournaments, including the World Cup. Reports indicated FIFA intended to sell a minority stake, widely put at around 20 per cent, in a vehicle valued at roughly 20 billion US dollars, with the proceeds shared out among the 211 member associations.

The proposal was condemned almost immediately by UEFA, Concacaf and Asia's confederation, with European football's governing body warning it could refuse to take part in FIFA competitions. FIFA initially pushed back, insisting nobody was selling football, but after several days of escalating opposition it confirmed on 1 August that the project would not go ahead, acknowledging that it had created divisions no longer in the interests of the game.

Infantino calls executive meeting in Morocco

Having based himself in Morocco throughout the past week, Infantino has now called FIFA's executive leadership to Rabat on Wednesday as he searches for a way to draw a line under the affair. The timing is pointed: the criticism has moved from outside confederations to the very heart of FIFA's own administration, leaving the president exposed at a moment when he had expected to be riding the goodwill of a successful tournament.

Wenger and Grafstrom break ranks

Arsene Wenger, FIFA's chief of global football development, issued a statement through the governing body making clear that he had played no part in the strategy and had only become aware of it through media coverage. Wenger, who has led FIFA's work on data analysis, online coaching and youth competitions since 2019, said withdrawing the project had been necessary and not open to debate, and reaffirmed his belief in an independent FIFA built on commitment, transparency and integrity. The former Arsenal manager had previously supported Infantino's push for a men's World Cup every two years.

Secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, long regarded as one of Infantino's closest allies, also voiced his dismay in an internal memo to staff. The Swede, who became FIFA's chief of staff after Infantino's election in 2016 and rose to secretary general in 2024, described the previous week as a dismaying and regrettable episode that colleagues had found hard to make sense of. He sought to reassure employees that the administration would be shielded from the surrounding political turmoil and urged them to stay focused on serving the member associations.

Prince Ali's blackmail allegation

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, president of the Jordan Football Association, went further still. Writing on X, he accused FIFA of withholding prize money owed to Jordan for reaching the final of the FIFA Arab Cup last December, and alleged that the payment had been linked to a request that he back Infantino's bid for re-election. He said Jordan prides itself on upholding ethical values, had declined to endorse the president before, and would certainly not do so now.

He added that Jordan supporters holding match tickets had been refused United States visas to attend the country's first appearance at a World Cup. His intervention followed Infantino's claim, made before the recent final, that more than 200 of FIFA's 211 member associations had written to support his re-election, with Jordan among the small number that declined to do so.

Prince Ali is a familiar challenger to Infantino. He has stood for the FIFA presidency twice, losing the 2015 election to Sepp Blatter, who resigned only days later, before finishing third in the 2016 contest that brought Infantino to power.

Cordeiro resignation and UEFA legal warning

So far only one senior figure has resigned over the plan. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's senior adviser on global strategy and governance, stepped down, describing the proposal as a poor deal that would mortgage the future of the game. UEFA, meanwhile, has sent FIFA a document preservation letter, a formal step that signals possible legal action, naming 18 officials in the process, among them Wenger.

What happens next

Wednesday's gathering in Rabat is likely to be dominated by the question of how much lasting damage has been done, both to FIFA's internal cohesion and to Infantino's re-election campaign. With a scrapped plan, a resignation, a legal threat and open criticism from his own secretary general all landing in the space of a week, the president faces the hardest test of his authority since he took charge in 2016. For all the noise off the pitch, attention will eventually return to the football itself, and to a tournament that reshaped expectations of who was tipped to lift the trophy.