Infantino apologises for World Cup plan as UEFA calls for reforms and new FIFA president

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is facing the biggest challenge in his 11-year tenure. Speaking at the first council meeting of football's governing body since he abandoned his $4.2 billion plan to sell stakes in FIFA events, he apologised but defended his motives. It was a proposal, so in no way a done deal. Its intention was merely to create more success stories like the ones that inspired people around the world during the FIFA World Cup 2026 because football is for everyone. But leaders within European football's governing body UEFA demand answers. UEFA took issue with Infantino planning the project without consultation. It is leading the attempts to remove him before the presidential election in March. The first thing is we need reforms, that's true and everyone knows that. The whole administration has to be reformed and the whole governance has to be reformed. But I'm pretty clear here that this is not possible with Gianni as the responsible person as FIFA. So we need a complete restart. In the three-and-a-half-hour meeting in Zurich, Infantino also faced questions about political interference in suspending US striker Folarin Balogun's red card during the World Cup after a request from Donald Trump, as well as the decision to award the US president a Peace Prize. He didn't answer them. The man has to answer those questions, and if he doesn't answer those questions, no, he's not fit to be FIFA president, and that was what was shared in the meeting. Infantino has plenty of backing ahead of next year's election, especially across Africa and the Middle East. He's been praised for increasing the funding to smaller footballing nations and providing major hosting opportunities to countries such as Qatar, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. We see Gianni as the right person to continue leading football. He seeks to develop football everywhere in the world. I come from the African continent and I know something about this. They want to develop football and want everyone to take part. These finances allow young people today to play football on grass instead of on stony ground or rocks. The deadline for candidates to submit nominations for the presidential election is in November. The next FIFA Council meeting is in Doha in December. Tom Sison, Al Jazeera.