Gianni Infantino has taken a significant step amid the continuing fallout from one of the most controversial proposals of his FIFA presidency.

The FIFA president has written to every one of the organisation’s 211 member associations, as well as members of the FIFA Council, outlining plans that could lead to an independent external review of how major decisions are made inside world football’s governing body. The intervention follows the collapse of the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, which had triggered opposition from several powerful voices within the game.

According to The Associated Press, Infantino circulated the letter on Monday ahead of the next FIFA Council meeting on October 15, with the president acknowledging the concerns created by the handling of the abandoned project.

Infantino opens the door to an independent FIFA review

At the centre of Infantino’s new proposal is the possibility of bringing in an outside body to examine FIFA’s current governance structure around major strategic projects.

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In his letter, Infantino said he would ask the FIFA Council whether it wanted to commission an “independent external review of FIFA’s current governance framework” and consider possible improvements.

A second proposal would create a more formal consultation process involving FIFA’s six confederations, its member associations and other relevant stakeholders. The aim would be to examine whether major proposals should involve football’s governing bodies earlier and whether the balance of power between the FIFA president, Bureau, Council and Congress needs to be adjusted.

As Sky News reported, Infantino wants the process to consider practical ways of strengthening “transparency, participation and accountability” when FIFA pursues major strategic initiatives.

It represents a notable change in tone after weeks in which the governing body’s leadership had defended both the intentions behind FIFA Forward Enterprise and the process surrounding it.

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The abandoned project that triggered the backlash

FIFA Forward Enterprise was proposed as a new subsidiary that would take responsibility for major parts of FIFA’s commercial and operational event business. FIFA argued that the structure could increase the value generated by competitions and ultimately provide significantly more development money to its 211 national associations.

Under FIFA’s own proposal, the governing body would have retained permanent control of the new company, while outside investment would have helped finance additional payments to national federations. FIFA said each member association could receive $20 million in Forward development funding during the 2027-2030 cycle, with another voluntary programme potentially providing an additional $20 million.

But the project quickly became contentious after details emerged before FIFA’s planned consultation had been completed. Concerns were raised about private investment in commercial assets connected with competitions including the World Cup and about how such a major change had been developed.

FIFA initially pushed back strongly against some of the coverage. In its official clarification of the FFE proposal, the organisation insisted: “Nobody is selling football.” It also stressed that the proposal could not proceed without majority support from FIFA’s member associations.

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The plan was ultimately withdrawn.

Infantino has now told members that FIFA Forward Enterprise “remained a proposal, not a decision” and confirmed that it will not proceed.

Pressure on FIFA has continued after the plan collapsed

Withdrawing FFE did not end the argument over what had happened behind the scenes.

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin and Concacaf president Victor Montagliani have since proposed an entirely different approach to funding FIFA’s national associations. They want FIFA to make at least $10 million available to every one of its 211 members during the 2027-2030 cycle, using part of the governing body’s reserves rather than relying on a structure involving outside investment.

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That would amount to an extraordinary distribution of approximately $2.1 billion on top of the existing FIFA Forward programme.

According to Reuters’ report on the proposal, Čeferin and Montagliani have also called for an independent examination of FIFA’s financial position.

It has turned what originally appeared to be a dispute over one commercial proposal into a much wider argument about how FIFA is governed, how its vast revenues should be distributed and how much involvement national associations should have before major projects reach an advanced stage.

Infantino makes his position clear

Despite the pressure surrounding the abandoned proposal, Infantino’s letter should not be interpreted as a signal that he intends to walk away from FIFA.

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Quite the opposite.

The FIFA president concluded his message by making his intentions explicit, writing: “I remain fully committed to leading FIFA.”

That makes the October 15 FIFA Council meeting particularly significant. Members will have an opportunity to consider proposals submitted before the meeting, including the possibility of an external governance review and changes to FIFA’s decision-making procedures.

The significance of Infantino contacting all 211 associations directly is therefore difficult to ignore. Only weeks ago, FIFA was defending a proposal it described as a major opportunity to transform football development around the world. That proposal is now dead, powerful figures inside the game are demanding greater scrutiny, and FIFA’s president is asking whether the organisation’s own system for making major decisions should be independently examined.

The FIFA Forward Enterprise project may have disappeared, but the argument it started inside world football has not.