Apology, admission and warning: details of FIFA's letter to the 211 associations after the Morocco meeting | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 05 Aug 2026 | Lesezeit: 3 Minuten

FIFA wrote to all 211 federations on Wednesday evening, spelling out the details of an emergency meeting in Rabat between president Gianni Infantino and senior federation officials. The gathering followed the collapse of a plan to sell off part of the governing body's international tournaments, the World Cup foremost among them.

According to the newspaper "AS", the letter tackled several issues that have dominated headlines in recent days: "The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the events of the past few days and to update you on the latest developments. The meeting, first and foremost, praised the outstanding work carried out by FIFA's administration, which ensured the successful organisation of the 2026 World Cup. This would not have been achieved without the cooperation of the president, the secretary general and FIFA's administration, who worked as a single team and were in complete agreement."

The letter went on: "To clarify any confusion, the secretary general and the members of the FIFA board present at the meeting affirm their full support for the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is the only person elected by the 211 member federations of FIFA. In turn, the FIFA president affirms his full support for the secretary general and FIFA's administration for their fundamental and exceptional work in implementing his vision."

FIFA also lifted the lid on what came out of the Rabat talks: "The meeting concluded that the effectiveness and efficiency of the operations, communication and interaction between the FIFA president, the secretary general and the board, aimed at achieving this vision, can and indeed must be continuously improved. We are fully confident that the outcomes of today's meeting will strengthen FIFA's governance, help restore trust in the organisation, and enable us to prepare, with unity and transparency, for the major events and challenges ahead, while continuing to carry out our mission to develop football worldwide."

Self-criticism followed over the failed attempt to launch the FIFA Forward project: "In this regard, we acknowledge that there were errors in the proposal to create the project. It was never our aim to exclude the FIFA Council and the member federations from this process. We should have acted differently. We also acknowledge that there were errors following the leak of the proposal to the media."

An apology went out to any federations that felt wronged: "Please accept our sincere apology for these errors. We are committed to ensuring they are not repeated. To this end, we will carry out the necessary analysis, and a report on this matter will be presented at the next FIFA Council meeting. Furthermore, as you know, the proposal that was due to be presented for approval by the member federations and the FIFA Council has been withdrawn."

There was a warning, too: "Now that the proposal has been withdrawn, FIFA will not tolerate any attacks on its integrity, its good governance and its procedures, and it will take all necessary measures to protect and preserve its name and reputation."

The letter signed off: "We learn from everything, and this experience will help us continue to improve our operations. Nevertheless, it should be noted that despite the occurrence of some errors, FIFA's regulatory framework was fully respected. We will continue to work with you to analyse how to strengthen the development of football through FIFA's Forward programme, in a way that benefits the 211 member federations, the continental confederations and FIFA's regional federations. We are fully prepared to answer any queries you may have, and we look forward to meeting you in person soon. With kind regards, Mattias Grafström (secretary general)."

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