RABAT, Morocco: FIFA president Gianni Infantino called an emergency meeting of senior staff on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, following the cancellation of a proposal to sell a 20 per cent stake in the tournament operations of the organization to private investors.
Okay News reports that Infantino scheduled the gathering with secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and management board members after multiple football confederations rejected the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, the chief of global football development for FIFA, said he was not connected to the investment plans. Wenger said he was “not involved” in the proposal and described the decision to abandon the project as “absolutely necessary and beyond question.”
UEFA, CONCACAF, and the Asian Football Confederation opposed the plan to establish a separate commercial entity. UEFA said it has “lost confidence” in Infantino, while national associations representing England and Wales withdrew their support. The Scottish Football Association aligned with the European governing body.
Grafstrom sent a message to FIFA employees regarding the internal situation and the canceled project. Grafstrom said the events of the past week were a “sad and reproachable series of events” and assured staff they would be “defended and safeguarded from the political context we currently experience.”
Members of the FIFA Council are attempting to secure the 19 votes required to demand a formal meeting to hold Infantino accountable for the investment proposal and his handling of the Folarin Balogun case. Concurrently, Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein accused FIFA of financial blackmail related to his voting, an allegation the governing body declined to address.
Lawyers representing UEFA directed Infantino and other officials to identify, locate, and preserve all documents connected to the abandoned project.
