Fifa president Infantino says 'sorry', but stays in job after criticism

Gianni Infantino has apologised for "errors" over a controversial plan involving some of football's biggest competitions, but he is staying on as president of Fifa.

Fifa is the organisation that runs world football. It is in charge of major tournaments such as the men's and women's World Cups.

Widespread criticism across the football world began after Infantino revealed a plan called Fifa Forward Enterprise, or FFE.

The plan involved selling parts of Fifa competitions to investors. But many of the countries who play in Fifa tournaments were not happy.

With questions over Infantino's leadership, Fifa held a meeting in Rabat, Morocco yesterday.

After that meeting, Fifa said "mistakes" had been acknowledged and that the process "should have been handled differently".

Infantino, and Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, sent a letter saying they "sincerely apologise" and "commit to them not happening again".

Although there has been criticism from inside Fifa too, its management board said they "reaffirmed their full support" for Infantino as president.

That means he remains in charge for now.

The plan would've seen outside investors put money into a company which would handle money-making and event-running parts of big Fifa competitions, like the World Cup.

Fifa said it would still own and control the company, and that football decisions such as rules and competitions would not be handed to investors.

Infantino also suggested national football associations around the world would receive $20m over four years, plus another possible one-off $20m payment if the project went ahead.

The plan caused strong criticism from countries around the world who were concerned investors would have too much influence over the game.

Uefa, the organisation that runs football in Europe, said: "The World Cup is not for sale" and "cannot be treated as an investment product."

Uefa warned that its 55 national associations would not take part in Fifa competitions if the plan went ahead.

That could have affected teams such as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland appearing in competitions like the World Cup and the tournament's qualifiers.

Other football bodies also criticised the idea.

Concacaf, which looks after football in North and Central America, said it was "deeply concerned", while the Asian Football Confederation said: "Football should never have been placed in such a position."

Following the widespread criticism, Fifa dropped the plans on 1 August.

Not everyone is satisfied.

Famous former Portugal player Luis Figo has called for Infantino to "go now", while Uefa may still decide to take further action.

Some football figures and organisations still want more answers about how the plan was put together.

Fifa is made up of 211 national football associations, and it also has a Fifa Council, which helps make important decisions.

Critics of the plans have asked why such a major idea, involving private investment in the business side of Fifa tournaments, was developed without enough discussion with those groups.

Fifa has said it was not its intention for the Council or member associations to "feel excluded from the process", but admitted the process "should have been handled differently".

However, Fifa says everything was done within its rules and that the meeting in Morocco should help improve how the organisation is run.