FIFA president Gianni Infantino apologizes for World Cup privatization plans but still faces scrutiny

Infantino is seeking his fourth and final term in March’s election and so far only has one opponent in former Switzerland international Ramon Vega

Infantino is seeking his fourth and final term in March FIFA president Gianni Infantino apologized to members of the FIFA Council in a meeting on Thursday in Zurich, the first gathering of the organization's main decision-making body since Infantino announced and then scrapped a controversial plan to privatize the World Cup. The specifics of Infantino's apology were not made public but FIFA said that the Council was updated on the legal background behind FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which was a proposed subsidiary that controlled the commercial rights to the men's and women's World Cups and Club World Cups. FFE was valued at around $20 billion and minority stakes were to be sold to private investors headlined by Thrive Eternal, the investment firm of venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the brother of U.S.

president Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared. The plan received criticism from the moment it became public knowledge in a report from the Times of London in July and was abandoned within a matter of days, though a legal battle over the proposal is now underway in the U.S. and the incident continues to loom large as Infantino seeks re-election. Infantino fielded questions from Council members about FFE on Thursday and asked them to submit more queries for a subsequent meeting, the session ultimately drawing mixed reviews from those in the