Gianni Infantino apologizes for mistakes as England and Germany question leadership

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the FIFA Congress in Bangkok in May 2024. | AFP-JIJI

Reuters

Oct 16, 2026

Zurich – Gianni Infantino apologized to the FIFA Council on Thursday, but English and German soccer chiefs said they remained unconvinced he was fit to continue as president of soccer’s world governing body.

Infantino said he had apologized during the closed meeting for mistakes in communicating and consulting over the now-abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project, but stressed that it had been only a proposal and “in no way a done deal.”

“First of all, I apologized for the mistakes that we made in relation to the communication and consultation process related to the FIFA Forward Enterprise project, which then led to many consequences,” Infantino said in a video published by FIFA.

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