Infantino sorry for errors but stays Fifa president

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:00)
This is The Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Thursday, the 6th of August, these are our main stories. The head of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, apologises over his now cancelled proposal to privatise the World Cup. But Fifa backs him to stay on as president. In Nigeria, more than 300 civilians kidnapped by jihadists have been rescued by the Nigerian security forces. Iran says it's reached an agreement with Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Also in this podcast, a left-wing progressive candidate has narrowly won a Senate primary in Michigan, which could point to the future direction of the Democratic Party.

**Abdul El-Sayed** (0:48)
We took on a machine. You're not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our many is greater than the power of their money.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:57)
And the acclaimed university professor who's resigned amid accusations of plagiarism.
A joint statement has been released by Fifa and its beleaguered president, Gianni Infantino, apologizing for mistakes made in connection with his controversial plan to sell off shares in the World Cup. Now, that plan has since been abandoned, but calls for him to resign continue to grow. Here's the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney.

**Mark Carney** (1:29)
I've run a few organizations in my time. The idea that proper governance is not to disclose to your closest advisors, your chief operating officer, your fellow board members, something of consequence that you're even considering, let alone proposing, that's fatal, should be fatal. And you lose confidence in that individual. They have their own procedures for making those determinations, but certainly I don't have confidence in Mr. Infantino after this point.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (1:59)
Mark Benstead from BBC Sport told me more about what's in that Fifa statement.

**Mark Benstead** (2:04)
There's various parts we could pull out from the statement. The first one concerns his position. They say that the Fifa Management Board reaffirmed their full support for the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, as the only official elected by the 211th Fifa Member Association. So that's on his position. They also go on to address the criticism of the Forward Enterprise Proposal, the FFE, that's the scheme where outside investment was to be allowed into Fifa's competitions like the World Cup. They say, were mistakes made were acknowledged, it was agreed that it was not the intention for the Fifa Council and Fifa Member Associations to feel excluded from the process, and that the process should have been handled differently. It was further acknowledged that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to the media. They say, there are always lessons to be learned and Fifa will continue to improve its processes in light of this experience. In this instance, however, it's important to stress that although mistakes were made, everything that was done was done in full compliance with the Fifa regulatory framework. And one final bit to pull out, and this is really important, is where they go on the offensive. They say, with that project withdrawn, it was agreed that Fifa will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process, and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation. So that underlines how committed Gianni Infantino is to defend his position, his name and to continue in his role. And if anyone wants to try and oust him, well, they can put themselves forward to stand against him in the elections next year. If they want to do that, they have until mid November to put themselves forward.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (3:47)
Do you think this is enough to save him, given that there are still so many people who want him gone?

**Mark Benstead** (3:52)
It's worth reiterating that a string of African nations came out publicly on Wednesday to back him, including Morocco, where he was to the meeting, which was scheduled around the Women's Afghan tournament. So he believes he's still in a pretty strong position, and he can point to some of the successes of his time in charge. But criticism has been consistent. It has been broad. We've seen Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, come out and criticize, and he burdened the UK Prime Minister to do likewise previously. We've had senior football figures such as Luis Figo speak out against him. It's very difficult to stem that tide. But again, I think the ways he's approached all of this indicates that he wants to try and duke this out and see this out. He feels he's still, despite all the criticism, in a pretty strong position.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (4:38)
Mark Benstead.