Infantino apologises over abandoned rights plan as Hewitt demands documents

Fifa president Gianni Infantino apologised to the organisation's council on Thursday over an abandoned proposal involving its commercial rights, but Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt said the meeting left important questions unanswered. BBC Sport reported that Hewitt, who is also a Fifa vice-president, challenged his fitness to remain president unless he provided the requested documents and explanations.

The council gathered in Zurich for its first meeting since the Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal became public. Known as FFE, the plan would have transferred a share of the governing body's commercial rights to a private investment firm. Infantino abandoned it within days. According to BBC Sport, Thursday's discussions lasted three and a half hours and included questions about the proposal that council members had not previously been given the opportunity to consider.

Hewitt said members did not receive the FFE papers they had specifically requested. When she asked why those materials had not been supplied, they were told to submit their questions in writing. She acknowledged that Infantino had shown contrition, but said his apology centred on failing to bring the plan before the council. Her demand was for the underlying information to be shared as well.

The dispute has also involved Uefa, which has repeatedly called for Infantino to leave office. BBC Sport reported that European football's governing body had prepared criminal legal proceedings against him and lodged claims in three US courts seeking the release of FFE documents. Hewitt said the apology had not changed her position because she had received no new information that would lead her to a different view.

The meeting covered other contentious issues alongside the commercial proposal. Council members questioned Infantino about the suspended red-card ban for United States striker Folarin Balogun, the Fifa Peace Prize and funding for national associations, according to the report.

Infantino is due to seek re-election in March after being returned unopposed in 2019 and 2023. Hewitt acknowledged that his opponents must find a candidate before the 18 November nomination deadline. She argued that a competing manifesto would give Fifa's 211 member associations a choice, while the demands for disclosure over FFE remained unresolved.