FIFA Boss Infantino Survives — For Now — After Emergency Meeting to Keep His Job

Zachary LeemanAug 6th, 2026, 9:32 am
 
gianni infantino with his hands in a prayer pose in front of his face

Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo

Soccer prez Gianni Infantino walked away from an emergency meeting in Morocco this week with the “full support” of FIFA senior leadership.

The crisis meeting was called after Infantino after sparking internal anger with a proposal to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors.

But he’s not out of the woods yet, as Infantino is months away from a vote for a fourth term in his position.

After the meeting, a FIFA statement was posted to social media, which read:

Today, the members of the FIFA Management Board in attendance have taken the necessary steps to reinforce confidence in FIFA’s governance and management structures and to ensure that FIFA, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue to be fully upheld in support of both me as FIFA President and that of the administration under the stewardship of FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström.

We are fully confident that the outcomes of today’s meeting will strengthen FIFA’s governance, help restore confidence in the organisation and enable us to prepare for the major events and challenges ahead in a united and transparent manner while continuing our mission to develop the game around the world.

Infantino added, “We also agreed that FIFA will not tolerate any attacks on its integrity and will take all necessary measures to defend its reputation.”

The next World Cup is set to be held in Morocco in 2030. Infantino took over the FIFA organization in 2016 and just wrapped a World Cup in the U.S. that reportedly brought in $15 billion in revenue.

Grafström, who was photographed with Infantino in his new post, had reportedly confirmed that Infantino’s plan to bring in private investors had been “abandoned” and he called events leading up to the decision “sad and reproachable.”

FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour said staff felt “deceived” by the plan.

Included at Wednesday’s meeting, held in Rabat, were FIFA’s chief of member associations Elkhan Mammadov, chief legal officer Emilio Garcia Silvero, chief financial officer Thomas Peyer, chief of staff Daniel O’Toole, media director Bryan Swanson, and HR chief Kimberly Morris.

FIFA said in a statement that “mistakes made (regarding FFE) were acknowledged” during the meeting and it was “agreed that it was not the intention for the FIFA council and FIFA member associations to feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently.”

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.