October 21: FIFA has said it will respond to UEFA’s 42 questions about Gianni Infantino’s presidency and FIFA’s governance procedures, but could not say when.
Earlier this week, the European governing body through its secretary general, Theodore Theodoridis, wrote to FIFA with a series of questions about the controversial Infantino World Cup selling scheme, the role of US President Donald Trump and FIFA’s governance problems.
This followed a FIFA Council meeting last week where Council members, mainly European, had challenged the FIFA president with multiple questions and accusations. It was the council’s first meeting since the World Cup and the first opportunity for the council, supposedly FIFA’s highest decision-making body, to address Infantino over the growing scandals surrounding his presidency.
After apologizing in his opening speech to the meeting, FIFA pushed its hired lawyers to sugarcoat the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise plans, but failed to make a convincing case or explanation for the Infantino sales scheme. Infantino was so overwhelmed by the question that he refused to answer, but said he would answer questions sent to him by letter.
The next FIFA Council meeting will take place on December 16 in Doha ahead of the Intercontinental Cup in the Qatari capital, but it is unclear whether FIFA will offer a response before that meeting. UEFA’s letter had stressed that FIFA would have to respond in a timely manner, setting a deadline of two weeks expiring at the beginning of November.
A FIFA spokesman said: “FIFA’s Governing Regulations state that Council meetings and associated documentation are confidential.”
“While FIFA intends to respond to questions submitted by members of its Council, it has no intention of breaching confidentiality by commenting on internal communication and/or documentation to the media.
“FIFA considers that respect for these Regulations is a function of respect for the Council itself and its individual members. FIFA will always maintain this respect and will not be involved in any exchange with third parties that would undermine this.”
UEFA has repeatedly expressed that it has lost confidence in Infantino. However, the Europeans have so far failed to remove him from office or nominate a challenger for next year’s FIFA elections. The deadline to submit nominations is November 17.
In its letter, UEFA questioned the integrity of the FIFA elections and whether they were conducted under fair conditions, highlighting the role of Bruno Chiomento, chairman of the electoral committee, as well as that of FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafstrom in the Infantino administration.
UEFA asked: “…what procedures and safeguards have been put in place to prevent the misuse of FIFA resources and ensure a fair and impartial presidential election?”
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