Fifa council members to inspect documents on abandoned commercial-rights plan

Fifa council members will be able to inspect documents about the abandoned plan to sell a stake in the organisation’s commercial rights to private investors, but only in person at its Zurich headquarters and subject to confidentiality conditions.

Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafström told council members hours before a deadline set by Uefa expired on 2 November. Members have two weeks to register their interest. It is not clear which documents they will be allowed to see.

The proposal, called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), prompted questions about how it was developed and why the council was not involved earlier. Fifa abandoned the plan, and president Gianni Infantino apologised for mistakes in how it was communicated and consulted on. At a council meeting last month, he asked members to submit questions in writing.

Uefa had given Fifa until 2 November to release details of the proposal and answer more than 100 questions about its governance and decision-making. In a letter last month, it said Fifa had failed to address “a number of fundamental questions”. It argued that future governance reforms would not replace scrutiny of decisions already made.

The BBC reports that Fifa considered Uefa’s two-week deadline unfeasible, citing the organisation’s focus on a new youth World Cup in Azerbaijan and preparations for an extraordinary congress. It also reports that legal action brought by Uefa in the United States in October, seeking disclosure of evidence and documents, limits Fifa’s ability to answer some questions. Uefa warned it could lodge a criminal complaint in Switzerland.

The dispute comes as Infantino faces a deadline of 18 November for potential challengers to confirm they will stand against him in next year’s presidential election. Fifa members were previously told that key questions about the abandoned plan remained unanswered.