Fifpro, the international football players' union, have released a statement calling for "governance reforms" within FIFA:

Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) is gone. The abuse of power that produced it is not. Governance reforms, not a cover-up, are urgently needed.

The withdrawal of FFE was inevitable. But withdrawing the proposal does not erase what it revealed.

A plan capable of permanently altering the ownership and governance of the FIFA World Cup, and commercialising the competitions built by generations of players, was conceived in secrecy, negotiated behind closed doors and brought to the brink of agreement before the FIFA Council, the Member Associations, players and football’s recognised stakeholders even knew it existed.

That is not merely a governance failure. It is a profound abuse of presidential power.

The FA have officially withdrawn their support for Fifa president Gianni Infantino in a letter sent today, BBC Sport can confirm.

More to follow.

Conmebol's statement reads: "Football belongs to everyone.

"Its future can only be built on the basis of respect for institutional governance, sound governance and the democratic procedures that represent Fifa's 211 Member Associations.

"On 18 November 2026, the deadline for submitting candidacies for the Fifa Presidency will expire. Thereafter, the Fifa Congress will elect, through the votes of its 211 Member Associations, the person who will lead the organization during the next term, including overseeing the organization of the Fifa Centennial World Cup 2030.

"Accordingly, Conmebol will not support any action or procedure that disregards or departs from those institutional mechanisms.

"The Conmebol Council calls for preserving the unity of the football family, acting with institutional responsibility, strengthening dialogue and fully respecting the mechanisms of governance.

"Because, above all differences, football comes first."

More on the breaking news out of Conmebol.

After a meeting of the Conmebol council today, South American football's governing body has welcomed Fifa's decision to withdraw the Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal.

However, it is not backing an extraordinary congress to vote on the future of Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Instead, Conmebol wants to stick to the current process - anyone who wants to run against Infantino at the 2027 Fifa congress must come forward by 18 November.

Peter Gillibrand
BBC Newsbeat

As Gianni Infantino tries to cling onto power, BBC Newsbeat has been speaking to young football fans to get their reaction to his apology.

"I don’t really know what Infantino thought the reaction would be to the news that he’s going to sell off the World Cup," says England fan Dan.

"The fact that he’s now come grovelling back saying sorry, I’m not sure if this is a political play to show that he’s human.

"There’s not a single person out there that thinks he’s the right man to take Fifa forward."

Ivory Coast fan Emmanuel disagrees, telling Newsbeat he saw Infantino’s apology as genuine and feels we can all agree the sport "needs more investment".

"I viewed the apology as someone making a mistake but the intentions were in the right place," he says.

He thinks it is "good” that Infantino has apologised and is consider different options as "football is about the fans and the people".

Image source, Getty Images

The Sport & Rights Alliance have said the controversy surrounding Gianni Infantino's abandoned FFE plans should act as a catalyst for wider reform at world football's governing body.

The coalition includes organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Transparency International, Reporters Without Borders and Football Supporters Europe.

"The landscape for human rights, transparency and good governance will not improve if Fifa's structures are not addressed," said its executive director Andrea Florence in a statement.

"This crisis must spur long-overdue reforms to finally embed human rights protections at the heart of world football. Only a systemic transformation that addresses the many abuses linked to Fifa's operations will prevent history repeating itself.”

Tor Dolvik, special adviser at Transparency International Norway, added: "Contrary to Infantino’s social media statements, the largest, “most-inclusive” World Cup in history saw many human rights abuses and significant sportswashing.

"Fifa's failure to follow through on its human rights commitments has tarnished Infantino’s decade as president," said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch.

"Fifa has still not financially compensated families of thousands of migrant workers who died to deliver the 2022 World Cup in Qatar."

It called for establishment of a new independent human rights advisory board, greater transparency, stronger protections for workers and communities affected by major tournaments and accountability to the media and public.

Some breaking news from South America.

Conmebol, the football federation for South American nations, will not back an extraordinary congress to vote on the future of Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Three Conmebol nations - Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay - will host matches at the 2030 men's World Cup, while Brazil are hosting the women's tournament next year.

More to follow.

Lastly from Professor Mark Pieth, is the reign of Gianni Infantino stoppable? "I don't know what's going on behind closed doors at the moment. I'm sure people are discussing that but I just don't know how much guts they really have.

"I've several times called Uefa a bunch of wimps but I'd be happy to learn the contrary."

Image source, Getty Images

More from Professor Mark Pieth, who worked as the head of Fifa’s Independent Governance Committee during the final years of president Sepp Blatter's reign: "Infantino has been overdoing it dramatically. He has been far more excessive than Blatter ever was but, and there’s a big but, that’s only possible if everyone allows him to do all of this.

"The association is democratically organised – they could vote him down, they could get rid of him etc. but they allowed him to do that and it’s only now where he really went over the top with this idea of partly selling off Fifa, that Uefa and a few others woke up.”

On whether Infantino has too much power: “There are other people saying the same things I do. There is a mistake in the overall format of this organisation.

"Of course the president has too much power and too much money and what several people have been suggesting recently is we should have something like a rotating presidency.

"One idea was the heads of confederations who are constantly present, who know the business, should be coming in for two years and then shifting and moving on and handing over to the next confederation – that would be a model that would impede somebody building up so much power and so much money.”

Image source, get

Professor Mark Pieth, anti-corruption lawyer and former head of Fifa’s Independent Governance Committee, spoke to BBC Sport: “Maybe it’s a good sign that Uefa have finally woken up. They are the people who have the responsibility of the 211 members of the association. The problem is so far, they’ve been regularly bought off. Their votes have been bought for money, they’ve been promised huge amounts of money but I think Uefa have understood they are being pushed around and they have to stand up.

“The problem is they have 55 votes out of the 211. For me, the positive news is that other smaller entities, take Jordan, have also woken up. Prince Ali who I think is a very bold and courageous person has actually said ‘we were owed money, we didn’t get it and when we reminded Infantino of it he said yes but first you vote for me’.

“If that is correct, he is right to say in this context we are being extorted."

On how Uefa were being "bought off" by Fifa: “Uefa, and not only Uefa members but all of the officials in the council have been receiving huge amounts of money and the president has been defining how much money they should be getting.

"If you look at an association like Germany – it doesn’t need that money, they are strong enough, they have six million individual members. But of course, the people who are governing that body like money and like to have their personal accounts lined.

“I think so far people have been happy to be bought off but now for various reasons, they’ve realised Infantino has been going over the top and he couldn’t see his limits anymore.”

Professor Mark Pieth, anti-corruption lawyer and former head of Fifa’s Independent Governance Committee, spoke to BBC Sport on Fifa's statement: “It was the usual strange mix – what we get is apologies mixed with mutual assurances, everybody patting each other on the back, and then we get an element of threats.

"They like each other but everyone else can shut up. It was definitely aimed at outsiders; at the media and at critics in general”

On how Fifa has changed from when he worked with the organisation, under former president Sepp Blatter: “It’s difficult to say because at the time of Blatter, there were huge gaps in its governance. For instance, when I came to that job they hadn’t even got international bookkeeping so they were just getting into the mode of governance.

“What is different now is on paper it looks like quite good but what they’re doing is they’re subverting the paper format. They’ve kicked out those independent people who were actually quite strong – I’m thinking of the Ethics committee who got rid of Blatter.

"Fifa have got rid of them because they were afraid of them and they’ve replaced them with people who you could call friends or people who are not overly tough.

“The paper format definitely comes out if you look at how Saudi Arabia got its World Cup. Fifa have a brilliant human rights policy on paper, it looks brilliant; it says anyone who does not live up to human rights standards is allowed to have a World Cup. And frankly, Saudi Arabia is one of the most problematic countries regarding human rights.”

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Before the 2026 World Cup, Gianni Infantino and Fifa promised host cities $1million as part of a "Legacy Fund Plan".

Philadelphia hosted six matches at this years World Cup - but local organisers say they have not seen any money from Fifa yet.

A statement from Philadelphia Soccer 2026 says: "Philadelphia was proud to serve as a host city for the World Cup, and we remain grateful for our partnership with Fifa.

"As of today [Wednesday 5th August 2026], Philadelphia Soccer 2026 has not yet received the contribution Fifa committed to 2026 host cities for legacy projects. We look forward to continuing our conversations with Fifa and to receiving these funds so we can continue to deliver legacy programming to our communities."

Dan Roan
BBC sports editor

BBC Sport has been told that Fifa’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour was not invited to yesterday’s meeting in Morocco at which senior executives backed under-pressure president Gianni Infantino.

Last week Lamour strongly criticised Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in competitions to private investors, claiming it was "the project of one person", and "the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions". He added that if by speaking out "I lose my job, then so be it. At least I’ll sleep well tonight."

Lamour has declined to comment, and Fifa has been approached for comment.

Image source, Getty Images

President of the Gambia Football Federation, Lamin Kaba Bajo, speaking to BBC Sport: "As far as I'm concerned, most of my colleagues are concerned, we'll encourage him [Infantino] to stay, and we'll do everything within our means to ensure that he is re-elected come next year, 2027.

"That's my personal opinion as president of the federation, and a good number of African memberships also stand on that line. He is here to stay."

An example of the prevailing attitude among African federations comes from the president of The Gambia Football Federation, Lamin Kaba Bajo, who has emphasised his federation's "total" support for Gianni Infantino's aborted private investment plan.

"I'm fully in for it. I'm fully in support of it. I think it is going to make yet another big impact in global football," he told BBC Sport.

"It's a great idea. myself and my federation, my country, we are fully in support. As long as it's legal and and it goes through the the right process, certainly we need the money."

Bajo described Infantino's letter of apology for the plan as "fantastic" and says he supports the incumbent Fifa president "more than ever".

"That's courageous and that's honest, and I salute him for that. It makes me respect him more," he said.

"It's very hard ground for him, but the position of his yesterday made me really, really respect him more, and I am more willing to give him my support more than ever. I think that's what leadership is all about."

Dale Johnson
Football issues correspondent

One route open to Uefa is to try to convene an emergency meeting of the Fifa Council.

The Fifa Council has 37 members - the presidents of the six confederations, plus the heads of 30 Football Associations from around the world - and Infantino.

To trigger an emergency meeting, 19 members would need to vote in favour. The idea is Infantino could then be held to account properly.

However, getting to 19 is very difficult. Indeed, it would surely have already been activated if Uefa could get the numbers.

Many of the 37 countries represented - such as Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Mauritania and the Philippines - have publicly backed Infantino over recent days.

Uefa could probably get to 16 or 17 votes, but getting to 19 may well be unachievable.

Image source, Getty Images

Jordan FA president and former Fifa vice-president Prince Ali Al Hussein has consistently challenged his 2016 election rival, Gianni Infantino.

Most recently Al Hussein said Fifa haven't given Jordan the prize money they earned for reaching the final of the Arab Cup in Qatar while "at the same time Fifa brags about how many billions they have in reserve".

After Jordan qualified for the World Cup for the first time, Prince Ali said he was "blackmailed" after being told, during his time in North America, "if I endorsed Infantino it would go a long way to helping our FA out".

Now he has confirmed Jordan have received their prize money - but his view of Infantino remains unchanged.

“Thank you to the Fifa administration for suddenly this morning delivering what was owed to our players and coaching staff," he wrote on X. "This was funding that should have been received eight months ago.

"While this is a good development for our players, it does not change the serious concerns we in the football world have regarding the Fifa leadership, nor does it change what our FAs have been subjected to in the past.

"It is symptomatic of those exact difficulties that we all face, and that are usually linked to the Fifa presidential elections. And it does not change my clear position concerning the leadership of Fifa: my FA and I will not endorse President Infantino, nor will we vote for him.”