Infantino apology fails to sway England, Germany over FIFA future

ZURICH, Oct 15 : Gianni Infantino apologised to the FIFA Council on Thursday, but English and German football chiefs said they remained unconvinced he was fit to continue as president of soccer's world governing body.

Infantino said he had apologised during the closed meeting for mistakes in communicating and consulting over the now-abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project, but stressed that it 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 then led to many consequences," Infantino said in a video published by FIFA. 

"But what is important to remember is that it was a proposal, so in no way a done deal."

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