Infantino and FIFA present united front after crisis meeting over stake sale fallout

FIFA apologised to its members for mistakes made over its abandoned proposal to sell commercial rights to the World Cup as the body's leadership reaffirmed its support for President Gianni Infantino after a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday (Aug 5).

The proposal to sell a 20 per cent stake in a new commercial rights entity to private investors in a deal that would have raised about $4.2 billion provoked a fierce backlash and was withdrawn last Friday. Infantino bore the brunt of the criticism, including some from inside FIFA, which raised questions over his re-election as president next March.

"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 statement said.

"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", two sources told Reuters.

Grafstrom's letter, which did not mention Infantino by name, noted that "individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go" but FIFA's work would continue.

His words echoed those of FIFA's Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour, who said last week that staff had been "deceived" over the plan which he described as the project of one person.

Wednesday's FIFA statement noted that Infantino, president since 2016, was "the only official elected by the 211 FIFA member associations".

FIFA said a separate letter had been sent to