FIFA’s Infantino pledges ’culture of dialogue’ after uproar over secretive World Cup sell-off plan
The FIFA president has offered critics an independent review of how the Switzerland-based governing body is run and makes decisions.
Updated : Sep 24, 2026 19:01 IST , CHENNAI - 3 MINS READ
Gianni Infantino will chair an Oct. 15 meeting of the 37-member FIFA Council in Zurich. | Photo Credit: AFP
Gianni Infantino will chair an Oct. 15 meeting of the 37-member FIFA Council in Zurich. | Photo Credit: AFP
Gianni Infantino says he is committed to a new culture of openness at FIFA that is “not about generating positive headlines” two months after his abandoned USD 4.2 billion World Cup sell-off plan sparked a deep rift in global football.
The FIFA president has offered critics an independent review of how the Switzerland-based governing body is run and makes decisions, following furious opposition from UEFA and other confederations to his secretive commercial scheme anchored by investor Josh Kushner.
“I have received positive messages about it from different parts of the world, and it is important that we keep listening to each other,” Infantino wrote in an Instagram post from Jeddah, where Saudi Arabia is hosting the Arabian Gulf Cup.
He will chair an Oct. 15 meeting of the 37-member FIFA Council in Zurich, which will be asked to approve consultations with all 211 member federations and six continental bodies on “how to further strengthen FIFA’s decision-making processes.”
The 211 national associations already effectively own FIFA, a not-for-profit that holds at least USD 5 billion in cash reserves after a financially successful men’s World Cup in North America.
FIFA’s ruling council includes three vice presidents, UEFA’s Aleksander Ceferin, CONCACAF’s Victor Montagliani and Asia’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who led opposition to Infantino over the proposal to create a commercial spinoff part-owned by investors fronted by Kushner.
“There must be a culture of dialogue, of listening to each other and respecting one another,” Infantino wrote about the upcoming council meeting.
Gianni Infantino has built closer ties to U.S. President Donald Trump around this year’s World Cup. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Gianni Infantino has built closer ties to U.S. President Donald Trump around this year’s World Cup. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
“This is not about generating positive headlines, it is about doing what is right for the game.”
Infantino’s presidency since 2016 has faced its biggest turmoil when he pushed for a multi-billion-dollar commercial plans without fully consulting continental bodies like UEFA, which succeeded in stopping them.
FIFA has often appeared as an executive one-man leadership, with Infantino building closer ties to U.S. President Donald Trump around this year’s World Cup, creating a peace prize to award Trump and allowing United States striker Folarin Balogun to evade a mandatory ban after White House intervention.
Infantino’s secretive plan to sell at least 20% of FIFA’s commercial rights in a deal anchored by Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law, provoked the football body’s biggest crisis since the anti-corruption arrests in 2015 that led to trials in New York.
The 211 national federations were offered $20 million each to approve the creation of the FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary, while UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation countered that FIFA could afford to give each federation a USD 10 million dividend just from its reserves.
Now Infantino, who faces an election challenge ahead of a March 18 vote by FIFA members in Morocco, insists he is ready to listen to football officials.
“I have never been more determined and committed in doing that,” he wrote Thursday on Instagram.
“FIFA is always engaged. I am always engaged and I want to hear how we can continue to grow football for the benefit of everybody, everywhere.”
(With inputs from AP)
Published on Sep 24, 2026
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