Zurich is facing another uncomfortable governance debate after FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the organisation’s 211 member associations that he is prepared to open its decision-making structure to an external review.
In a letter circulated on Monday to FIFA Council members and national associations, Infantino said he would ask the Council to consider commissioning an independent assessment of FIFA’s governance arrangements for major strategic projects. The proposal comes before the Council’s meeting on 15 October, following the collapse of the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan.
The abandoned initiative had envisaged private investors taking stakes linked to the World Cup and other FIFA competitions. Its emergence in public, before FIFA had completed its own internal process, triggered a fierce reaction among associations and exposed a split inside the game’s global governing body.
A review after the Forward Enterprise dispute
Several influential associations, including members from UEFA’s European network, withdrew their support for Infantino after details of the proposal became known. The plan had been intended to create new commercial income, but opponents raised concerns over private investment in football’s biggest international assets.
Infantino acknowledged in his letter that the timing and limited detail surrounding the leak had created suspicion.
“I will ask the Council whether it wishes to mandate an external and independent evaluation of FIFA’s present governance framework for key strategic initiatives, with recommendations for possible improvements,” he wrote.
He also said he would propose a direct consultation process involving the confederations and member associations, with a formal structure and a defined timetable, to strengthen FIFA’s decision-making procedures.
Infantino said the Forward Enterprise idea had entered public view before it had been fully presented to the Council and the member federations. Without the complete background, he accepted that the proposal appeared to some observers as though decisions had already been made, while insisting that this was not the case.
European pressure reaches the courts
The dispute has not remained confined to FIFA’s meeting rooms. Last month, UEFA began preparing criminal complaints against Infantino in United States courts in connection with the Forward Enterprise project and sought disclosure of all relevant documentation.
Despite withdrawing the proposal, Infantino maintained that FIFA must continue seeking ways to expand its financial resources and direct more of the revenue from its competitions back into football.
“Taking back this proposal does not lessen either our ambition or our duty to reinvest more of FIFA’s success in the game,” Infantino said. “We will continue to examine sustainable methods of increasing FIFA’s resources. The ambition remains; what must improve is the strength of the process.”
Election backdrop
The governance confrontation arrives during an important political period for FIFA. Infantino, 56, is due to seek a fourth term as president in March 2027. Any challenger must submit a candidacy by 18 November.
For FIFA’s president, the immediate task is to persuade associations across every confederation that the next major commercial proposal will be shaped through a process they can scrutinise rather than one presented after the momentum has already gathered.
