Gianni Infantino opened Thursday’s Fifa Council meeting in Zurich with an apology. Three and a half hours later, England’s Debbie Hewitt walked out and said the Fifa president was not fit to hold the job.
It was the first gathering of the 37-member council since the Fifa Forward Enterprise affair — the scrapped plan to sell roughly 20% of a new commercial subsidiary holding World Cup rights to investors led by Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital. Infantino told colleagues he was sorry for blindsiding them. He did not hand over a single document about it.
“One of the disappointing things is that we didn’t get answers to anything that we had specifically requested,” said Hewitt, the Football Association chair and a Fifa vice-president. “The man has to answer those questions. If he doesn’t answer those questions, no, he is not fit to be the Fifa president.”
Three and a half hours, no paperwork
Eight of Uefa’s delegates were in the room, and their list of questions had been submitted in advance. None of it, according to those present, was satisfied. There were no papers on the $4.2bn fundraising plan, no explanation of the $20bn valuation placed on Fifa’s commercial arm, and no detail on who authorised nearly a year of negotiations conducted with JPMorgan and the adviser Greg Maffei.
Also left hanging were queries on the Fifa Peace Prize created for Donald Trump in December, the handling of the United States forward Folarin Balogun’s red-card suspension, and the mechanics of funding paid to national associations. Infantino’s response was to ask that the questions be put to him in writing.
Bernd Neuendorf, the German federation president, was blunt afterwards. “No satisfactory answers were provided,” he said. “We need a person of integrity, someone who can be expected to restore the reputation of the association, which has undoubtedly been lost.”
Hewitt was asked whether anything she heard had shifted her position. “I’ve no new information that makes me feel any differently.” She did allow Infantino one concession: the apology, she said, was delivered “with some contrition”.
How the plan unravelled in 72 hours
The speed of the collapse in July remains the central fact of this crisis. The Times revealed the proposal on 28 July, nine days after the World Cup final. Fifa’s pitch was that FFE would raise $4.2bn for football development and deliver up to $40m per member association while Fifa retained majority control.
The governing body misjudged the reaction completely:
- 30 July: all 55 Uefa associations voted unanimously to boycott Fifa competitions until FFE was abandoned in its entirety.
- Concacaf and its 41 members rejected the plan, citing the absence of due process and the involvement of private investors in Fifa assets. The AFC also objected.
- 31 July: Infantino withdrew the proposal — three days after it became public.
- 27 August: Fifa declared the withdrawal “irrevocable and permanent”, and Uefa stood down its boycott.
The internal cost was immediate. Senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro and chief operating officer Kevin Lamour both opposed the scheme; Lamour was dismissed on 17 August after criticising it. England, Wales, Sweden, Finland and Serbia withdrew their backing for Infantino’s re-election. Uefa has since filed documents in a United States court seeking evidence to support a criminal complaint in Switzerland over alleged financial mismanagement connected to the subsidiary’s valuation.
The road to Rabat
Everything now points at 18 March 2027, when the 77th Fifa Congress convenes in Rabat and Infantino seeks a fourth term. Nominations close on 18 November, which gives his opponents five weeks to find a credible name.
They do not yet have one. Ramon Vega, the former Tottenham and Switzerland defender, has declared. Figures opposed to Infantino are sounding out Arsène Wenger, Fifa’s global football development chief, about standing. Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has been repeatedly mentioned without declaring. Any challenger needs five member-association nominations simply to appear on the ballot.
Infantino’s arithmetic, meanwhile, holds. Caf president Patrice Motsepe has confirmed that all 54 African associations will give him their “unconditional support” — more than a quarter of Fifa’s 211 voting members before a vote is cast elsewhere. That is why Thursday ended as it did: an apology offered, rejected as insufficient, and a president who did not need to offer more.
The Uefa bloc controls 55 votes and the moral argument. It does not control the congress. Unless the documents surface, or a candidate of genuine stature enters before 18 November, the man told in Zurich that he is unfit to lead Fifa will be re-elected to lead it in Morocco.
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**Sources:** [BBC Sport via Shango](https://www.shango.media/bbc-infantino-apologises-to-fifa-council-but-told-hes-still-not-fit-to-lead-11949920) · [AP via TSN](https://www.tsn.ca/soccer/article/at-showdown-fifa-meeting-infantino-apologizes-for-world-cup-furor-but-leaves-critics-unhappy/) · [AP via ClickOnDetroit](https://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/2026/10/15/at-showdown-fifa-meeting-infantino-apologizes-for-world-cup-furor-but-leaves-critics-unhappy/) · [Goal](https://www.goal.com/en/lists/-fifa-president-gianni-infantino-s-silence-fury-secret-investment-plan-/blt74150c2b4e365674) · [Wikipedia: FIFA Forward Enterprise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Forward_Enterprise) · [Wikipedia: 77th FIFA Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/77th_FIFA_Congress) · [Morocco World News](https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2026/10/341667/infantino-could-face-arsene-wenger-challenge-in-2027-fifa-election/)
Article body is 737 words. All names, figures, quotes and dates were verified against today’s reporting before writing.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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