The name absent from the memo is the one every recipient would have expected to see.
In a message circulated to FIFA employees around the world and obtained by Sky News, secretary general Mattias Grafstrom walks through the past week’s events, condemns them without qualification, and does so without a single reference to Gianni Infantino.
Grafstrom calls the collapsed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan “a sad and reproachable series of events” that were “thankfully concluded with the FFE project permanently abandoned.” He tells staff they have been “thrown into the middle of a turmoil, which is difficult to comprehend and accept.”
Then comes the line that reads as a warning aimed upstairs.
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“Individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go. The institution, its mission and its responsibility towards world football continue.”
Grafstrom pledges protection to the administration itself.
“I assure you that you as members of the administration, you will be defended and safeguarded from the political context we currently experience.”
The email did not mention Infantino by name or the uncertainty over his future.
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The plan that lasted four days
FIFA unveiled the FFE proposal on 28 July: a commercial subsidiary that would have sold about 20 per cent of its equity to private investors, raising $4.2bn at a $20bn valuation, with Thrive Eternal, founded by Joshua Kushner, lined up as anchor investor.
It collapsed inside a week. UEFA’s 55 members voted to boycott every FIFA competition unless the plan was pulled entirely, saying “the soul and governance of football are not assets to trade.”
The English FA said it had been “completely unaware” of the proposal. CONCACAF rejected it, and the AFC called on FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its “governance and decision-making framework,” insisting that initiatives of this scale must rest on “good governance, transparency and meaningful consultation.”
Inside the building, senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned. Chief operating officer Kevin Lamour told colleagues employees had been “deceived” and described FFE as “a project of one person.”
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On 1 August Infantino scrapped the plan, saying it had “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.”
Wenger says he only learned of the plan through the media
Grafstrom is not the only senior figure to publicly separate himself from the president. Arsene Wenger said in a statement he was “not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports,” and that withdrawing it “was absolutely necessary and beyond question.”
UEFA preparing to withdraw its written backing
Infantino has not resigned. UEFA is preparing to withdraw its written support for him entirely, CONCACAF is expected to follow, and several senior officials inside FIFA are pressing for a vote of no confidence if the president refuses to step down.
The next FIFA presidential election is scheduled for 18 March 2027, at the 77th FIFA Congress in Rabat.
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