Gianni Infantino, the embattled president of soccer’s governing body FIFA, has abandoned his controversial plan to create a $20 billion company that would control the commercial rights to its events, principally the World Cup.
In a statement released late Friday, Infantino said it had “become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.”
The survival of Infantino, who is up for re-election for a fourth term as president at the FIFA Congress in March, is now in doubt.
Infantino said, “Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game.”
More to follow.
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