Football's governing body Fifa issued an apology to its members for mistakes made over the now scrapped proposal to sell commercial rights to the World Cup.
However, the organisation reaffirmed its support for president Gianni Infantino following a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday.
Infantino and Fifa faced severe criticism for a proposal to sell a 20 per cent stake in a new commercial rights entity to private investors. The deal was expected to raise about $4.2 billion.
European governing body Uefa led the way in opposing the plan, even threatening to withdraw from Fifa competitions. As other member boards joined in opposing the plan, Fifa was forced to withdraw the proposal almost immediately.
Now, the world body has admitted that mistakes were made.
“The meeting addressed the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, where mistakes made were acknowledged. It was agreed that it was not the intention for the Fifa Council and Fifa Member Associations to feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently. It was further acknowledged that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media,” the body said in a statement.
Infantino faced much of the criticism, including from within Fifa, which raised questions over his re-election as president next March. However, the world body presented a united front.
“Following a meeting in Rabat, Morocco, the Fifa secretary general and members of the Fifa management board in attendance reaffirmed their full support for Fifa president Gianni Infantino,” the world body added.
“In turn, the Fifa president reiterated his full support for the Fifa secretary general and the Fifa administration for their necessary and outstanding work in the delivery of his vision.”
Secretary general Mattias Grafstrom sent an internal memo to staff this week lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” that led to the project being “permanently abandoned”, according to reports.
Grafstrom's letter stated that “individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go” but Fifa's work would continue.
Fifa's chief operating officer Kevin Lamour had said last week that staff had been “deceived” over the plan.
On Wednesday, Fifa said that Infantino, president since 2016, was “the only official elected by the 211 Fifa member associations”.
Infantino is looking to extend his presidency until 2031 when election take place next March. As of now, no other candidate has put his name forward for the post of Fifa president.
On Tuesday, Jordan FA president Ali bin Hussein, who has twice stood for the top post, accused Fifa of “blackmail”, alleging it offered to help solve the federation's issues in exchange for endorsing Infantino.
“We did not endorse him before and certainly will not now,” bin Hussein wrote on X.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, said he did not have confidence in Infantino.
“The idea that proper governance is not to disclose to your closest advisers, your chief operating officer, your fellow board members something of consequence … that's fatal, should be fatal, and you lose confidence in that individual,” Carney said in Toronto.
“Certainly I don't have confidence in Mr Infantino after this point, given what transpired, and given the nature of what transpired.”
