BBC asks Infantino if he will resign as Fifa president

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has faced mounting pressure to resign since his plan to sell private-equity stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments, meant to raise roughly $4.2bn, collapsed under backlash in early August. UEFA had threatened to boycott the World Cup over the proposal, calling it a threat to the game's "soul and governance," and FIFA abandoned it days later, with Infantino saying the divisions it had created were no longer worth pursuing. The fallout did not stop there: FIFA's chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, lost his job days after criticising the scheme; Qatar publicly broke with the Asian Football Confederation over a joint letter from UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF attacking Infantino's conduct; and reports surfaced, which Infantino denies and FIFA calls unfounded, that UEFA had made a severance payment tied to an alleged past relationship of his.

FIFA has responded to the pressure by closing ranks, holding a crisis meeting in Morocco at which its leadership reaffirmed support for Infantino and accusing critics of a "concerted and ongoing effort" to undermine him. When the BBC asked directly, during a trip to Colombia in August, whether he retained the backing of South America's football confederation and whether he would step down, Infantino did not answer. The standoff has since moved into the courts: UEFA has asked US judges to force FIFA to hand over internal documents on the scrapped investor plan, which it says it needs to pursue a case against Infantino in Switzerland for alleged "criminal mismanagement," and FIFA has accused UEFA in return of a "smear campaign" using "press releases" dressed up as legal filings.