Infantino sorry for World Cup plan and set to ditch award previously given to Trump

Gianni Infantino has apologised to the FIFA Council for his World Cup sell-off plan; FIFA president was speaking in Zurich on Thursday morning; the FA is among European leaders who still want him to resign, while UEFA has called on Infantino to release documents related to the scheme

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has apologised for his World Cup sell-off plan at a three-hour FIFA Council meeting in Zurich on Thursday - and the Peace Prize he awarded to US President Donald Trump looks set to be ditched.

Infantino's expression of regret for not telling the council about his plans earlier was not good enough for European football leaders, including FA chair Debbie Hewitt, who still want him to resign.

UEFA wants Infantino to release all documents relating to the plan as they believe the 20 per cent stake in all future FIFA tournaments was being sold for a knockdown price.

Meanwhile, the FIFA Peace Prize, which Infantino handed to Trump in December, is likely to be scrapped, with FIFA's Football Social Responsibility Committee assessing the award and reasons for it.

The Peace Prize was only introduced in 2025, meaning Trump is the award's sole recipient to date. News of its expected scrapping emerges despite FIFA saying last year the award was to be "bestowed on an annual basis".

During the meeting, Infantino also faced scrutiny on the decision to suspend the one-match ban of USA striker Folarin Balogun during the World Cup. It was determined FIFA's Legal Committee will review disciplinary procedures, with their findings - and those on the Peace Prize - to be presented at the next council meeting in December 2026.

FIFA has also announced plans - through the FIFA Surplus Solidarity Programme - to use some of its reserves to more than double the level of planned funding for the 2027-2030 period to $6.35bn (£4.79bn), including around $25m (£18.8m) to each member association. That idea will also be examined in December.

After this summer's World Cup, Infantino abandoned a controversial plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to private equity investors after fierce opposition from football's governing bodies.

FIFA had announced it was seeking to launch FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would bring together the sale of FIFA's commercial rights - including broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing - with the operational delivery of its tournaments.

Infantino had then given football associations until September 19 to back his proposals to sell off part of FIFA to private investors with a £30.1m incentive to accept.

But the controversial proposals received fierce criticism from UEFA, CONCACAF (the North American, Central American and Caribbean association) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

FA chair Hewitt has called on Infantino to answer questions about his World Cup private investor plan and the Folarin Balogun case.

She said Council members had not received answers to "anything we had specifically requested" regarding FFE or the Balogun incident, where the United States striker's one-match ban was suspended following a call to Infantino from US President Donald Trump.