Fifa president Infantino holds emergency talks amid criticism over shelved World Cup investment plan

Infantino has faced increasing pressure, including calls for his resignation, since he withdrew the proposal last Saturday. Among those believed to be at the meeting was Fifa’s secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom, whose internal email criticizing the plan was leaked. Infantino, a 56-year-old Swiss lawyer, was in Morocco to celebrate the Feast of the Enthronement.

Morocco is set to co-host the 2030 World Cup, and Moroccan Football chief Fouzi Lekjaa has publicly supported Infantino, praising his "wise" decision to scrap the plan for the sake of "unity and cohesion." The controversial plan, which aimed to raise up to $4.2 billion by valuing a new commercial subsidiary, Fifa Forward Enterprise, at $20 billion, was intended to run events like the World Cup and Club World Cup. It proposed a one-off payment of $20 million to each of Fifa’s 211 member associations in early 2027, and an increase in their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20 million.

However, the proposal was met with a furious backlash, with European football’s governing body Uefa threatening to boycott the World Cup and describing the proposal as a "shabby, back room, opaque deal." North and Central American football’s governing body Concacaf also called for "a comprehensive reckoning