Gianni Infantino under fresh pressure as FIFA agrees Council review of abandoned $20bn commercial plan

FIFA has confirmed that a review of its controversial and subsequently abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal will be placed before the organisation’s 37-member Council, as pressure continues to mount over how Gianni Infantino’s plan to bring private investors into FIFA’s commercial operations was conceived and handled. The confirmation came after Danish Football Association president Jesper Moller accused FIFA of avoiding “critical questions” surrounding the project during a recent Legal Committee meeting. The FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, promoted by Infantino, involved selling a 20 per cent stake linked to the commercial interests of FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, to outside investors.

“FIFA Standing Committees advise and assist the FIFA Council in their respective fields in line with FIFA’s Statutes and Governance Regulations,” FIFA told in a statement as reported by Reuters. “As previously communicated, a review of the withdrawn FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal will be presented to the FIFA Council,” the governing body added.

The Council consists of Infantino, eight vice-presidents and 28 other members elected through FIFA’s member associations. Its scrutiny of the review will come at a particularly sensitive moment for the organisation, with questions over FFE having developed into a broader battle over FIFA’s governance and the powers of its president.

Jesper Moller demands answers from FIFA

Moller had expressed surprise that FFE was not formally discussed by FIFA’s Legal Committee despite the legal and governance questions surrounding a proposal of such magnitude. “I naturally used the meeting to ask a number of critical questions about the process, which I still consider to have been deeply problematic,” Moller said in a statement quoted by Reuters. “I am surprised that FIFA Forward Enterprise has not been discussed by the Legal Committee, which is precisely the body that should be consulted on legal matters concerning FIFA,” he added. Moller said it had proved impossible to obtain answers because FIFA wanted to wait for discussions at the upcoming Council meeting in October, calling the Legal Committee gathering a missed opportunity for FIFA’s leadership to explain itself.

The Danish official has gone considerably further than demanding transparency over FFE. Moller has openly called for Infantino to leave office, saying after the meeting that FIFA could not rebuild its credibility under its present leadership and that “the time has come for a change of president at FIFA.”

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The abandoned plan triggered fierce opposition from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF, while the possibility of a no-confidence vote against Infantino was also discussed. FIFA eventually withdrew the proposal and apologised to its member associations over mistakes in how the process had been handled. The controversy, however, has continued to follow Infantino into the build-up to FIFA’s next presidential election. Several European associations have withdrawn their support for his re-election, while Greek FA president Makis Gagatsis and former Germany national team director Oliver Bierhoff this week backed UEFA’s push for leadership change.

Gagatsis said Greece had taken a “clear position” against another Infantino candidacy, citing both events around the World Cup and the subsequently abandoned commercial proposal. Despite the expanding European opposition, multiple sources familiar with discussions inside world football told Reuters that Infantino retains substantial backing among FIFA’s member associations. His opponents have therefore also been discussing governance reforms aimed at limiting presidential powers if they cannot remove him through the ballot box. Infantino is seeking another term when the FIFA presidential election is held in Rabat on March 18, 2027.