Infantino apologises to Fifa Council - but told he's still not fit to lead

What the report says

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has apologised to the Fifa Council over a plan to sell part of the governing body’s World Cup-related commercial rights to a private investment firm, according to BBC Sport Football. The proposal, linked to a secret Fifa Forward Enterprise arrangement, was dropped after it became public. The council met in Zurich on Thursday, its first session since the issue emerged.

BBC Sport reported that council members pressed Infantino for fuller answers and access to the documents behind the plan. England Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt, who is also a Fifa vice-president, said the meeting did not resolve key questions and that the requested papers had not been provided. She said Infantino had been told he should answer the concerns raised, and that without doing so he would not be fit to lead Fifa.

The meeting also touched on other governance and football matters, including Folarin Balogun’s suspended red-card ban, the Fifa Peace Prize and funding for national associations. The episode adds to scrutiny of Infantino’s leadership at a time when transparency and decision-making at Fifa remain under close attention. Broadly, the dispute reflects long-running concern within football about how much influence private finance should have over the sport’s commercial assets and whether Fifa’s top leadership is being sufficiently open with its council.