Infantino Apologises for World Cup Sell-Off Plan as Uefa Escalates Fight for Answers

Gianni Infantino's apology came, but the paperwork did not. At Thursday's Fifa Council, the Fifa president said sorry for his World Cup sell-off plan — yet stopped short of releasing the documents connected to the proposal, leaving member associations and confederations still in the dark about how the plan was conceived and then abandoned.

That omission has now hardened into a formal confrontation. Uefa general secretary Theodore Theodoridis wrote to Fifa setting a 2 November deadline for the release of key documents on governance and decision-making, warning that any refusal must be justified individually under clear legal grounds (letter seen by BBC Sport).

A widening list of concerns

The European governing body did not limit itself to the World Cup sell-off. It attached an eight-page document listing a series of worries, spanning the Fifa Forward Enterprise private investment proposal, the Fifa Peace Prize and Folarin Balogun's suspended ban — a sign that Uefa's challenge to Fifa's transparency now reaches well beyond a single deal.

Fifa has been approached for comment.

How we got here

The current stand-off is the latest phase of a dispute that has been building for months. As reported by the Guardian on 22 September 2026, Infantino was already closing in on an unopposed fourth term, with the Fifa president expected to be re-elected without an opponent in March after would-be challengers declined to declare — while Uefa pursued legal action in US courts seeking disclosure of documents relating to the abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise sale plan, which it described as amounting to "criminal mismanagement".

Earlier, on 30 September 2026, Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto attacked Infantino in comments reported at the time, alleging that as Uefa general secretary he had shared confidential documents and "outmanoeuvred the investigatory chamber" to ensure Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain received only fines — claims Infantino has not accepted. Those allegations, made before this week's Fifa Council, form part of the wider pressure on the president's stewardship as he seeks another term.

With Fifa now facing a 2 November deadline, the next fortnight will determine whether the governing body opens its files or takes its chances justifying each refusal.