Gianni Infantino has apologised to the Fifa Council on Friday about his failed attempt to sell off stakes in its competitions to private investors.
But the president of Fifa also faced continuing questions about his role in the $4.2 billion Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme during a three-and-a-half-hour meeting in Zurich.
Infantino was also asked to provide more information regarding the suspension of United States attacker Folarin Balogun's ban during this summer's World Cup in North America and the Fifa Peace Prize controversially awarded to US President Donald Trump.
English and German football chiefs said they remained unconvinced Infantino was fit to continue as the head of football's world governing body.
The apology from Infantino again came with the caveat that the FFE plan had been only a proposal and “in no way a done deal”.
“First of all I apologised for the mistakes that we made in relation to the communication and consultation process related to the Fifa Forward Enterprise project which led to many consequences,” said Infantino.
“But what is important to remember is that it was a proposal and in no way a done deal, that actually intended to enable Fifa to invest more in our member associations, as opposed to replacing support from existing resources.”
The FFE plan involved creating a company to run the commercial interests of Fifa competitions, including the World Cup, and selling a minority stake to private investors. Infantino said it was intended to generate additional funding for Fifa’s 211 member associations.
While Infantino appeared to retain strong support among African officials, opposition from some of Europe’s most influential football associations remained pronounced.
German FA president Bernd Neuendorf called for a “complete restart” at Fifa, saying the governance reforms the organisation needed could not be delivered with Infantino in charge.
“The first thing is we need reforms. That's true. And everyone knows that,” Neuendorf said. “The old administration has to be reformed, and the whole governance has to be reformed. But I'm pretty clear here in this that this is not possible with Gianni.
“So we need a complete restart, I think, a political restart.”
English FA chair Debbie Hewitt, a Fifa vice-president, insisted that too many questions remain unanswered after what she called the “most robust, most frank, most open Council meeting” she had experienced.
“One of the disappointing things is that we didn't get answers to anything that we had specifically requested – for example getting the papers from FFE,” Hewitt said.
“I asked the question 'why not?' – and we were asked to submit those questions in writing.
“I think the man has to answer those questions and if he doesn't answer those questions now, he's not fit to be Fifa president – and that was what was shared in the meeting.
“I've repeatedly asked for the papers to be shared. I haven't received them and still in spite of the request today, I haven't received them.
“It is the rationale for why FFE happened in the way that it did, the Balogun case, the Peace Prize.
“The responses to those questions, which I still don't have answers to, will determine from my personal point of view whether or not Gianni is the right candidate.
“That will be the point at which or not we can say that any individual that was involved in FFE can or cannot be trusted because until we see what actually happened it's very difficult to say behaviour needs or not to change.”
