Gianni Infantino has reportedly called an emergency meeting of FIFA staff in Morocco as pressure ramps up on the president of soccer’s global governing body.

The crisis triggered by the FIFA chief’s abandoned proposal to sell a ‌stake in the World Cup has deepened, with influential executives distancing themselves from the project, while Jordan’s FA president accused him of blackmail.

After three days of unprecedented civil war in the world of soccer administration last week, the 56-year-old Swiss-Italian Infantino backed away from his ‌plan to raise $4.2 billion from a new commercial rights body late on Friday night.

He apologised for how the proposal, which would have brought private investment into the World Cup for the first time, had divided the game, but his once unassailable bastion of power at the top of FIFA was shattered.

Reports suggest the meeting in Morocco was called after the weekend and is also to include secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom and the FIFA management board.

Grafstrom sent an internal message to staff lamenting the “sad and reproachable series of events” that led to the project being “permanently abandoned”, two sources said.

“We have all been thrown into the middle of a turmoil, which is difficult to comprehend and accept,” Grafstrom wrote in the letter without mentioning Infantino by name.

“But, as secretary-general, I urge you to remain focused on what has always united us: Serving football and serving our 211 member associations, hand in hand with all relevant stakeholders and in full compliance with the FIFA statutes and FIFA regulations.

“Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go. The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue, and that is why we should always keep our professionalism, sense of perspective and composure.”

Arsene Wenger, the chief of global football development ‌at FIFA, said he was ⁠not involved in the proposal and only learned about it through media reports.

“The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in ​an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency, and integrity,” former Arsenal manager Wenger said in a statement.

Carlos Cordeiro, senior advisor to Infantino, resigned last week after “unequivocally” opposing the proposal.

Jordan FA president Ali bin Hussein accused FIFA of “blackmail”, claiming it offered to help solve many of the kingdom’s problems in exchange for endorsing Infantino.

“We pride ourselves in Jordan in upholding ethical values. We did not endorse him (Infantino) before and certainly will not now,” bin Hussein wrote on X.

“But the whole situation amounts to blackmail and we refuse to give in to that.”

There is no shortage of issues regarding FIFA. Let me start by clarifying what some of these are from an FA perspective, in particular that of Jordan going into a World Cup for the first time.
We are a small country with a minimal budget for our FA and had to deal with enormous…

— Ali Al Hussein (@AliBinAlHussein) August 4, 2026

Several federations have withdrawn support for Infantino but some have declared continued support for the president, who has run FIFA since 2016 and wants to stay on until 2031.

He has also attempted to boost ​his own image by ‌amplifying their statements on Instagram, while FIFA dismissed as “pure fiction” a report that Infantino sought support from US President Donald Trump’s administration to stay in power.

UEFA has confirmed that it has sent a “document preservation letter” to FIFA for all material related to Infantino’s plan and is still mulling whether to start legal proceedings over it.

Infantino’s immediate concern will be to avoid the calling of an Extraordinary Congress, triggered if 43 or more FIFA member associations make a formal written request for one.

Beyond that, his opponents will need to find a candidate ⁠before the November 18 deadline for nominations for the FIFA election.

–with PA