FIFA’s leadership has vowed to defend President Gianni Infantino, days after he was pressured to abandon a plan to sell off World Cup commercialisation rights that triggered a rare but massive protest within the football governing body. The declaration by the association came after a crisis meeting in Rabat, Morocco, was called following mounting pressure from UEFA and other confederations that threatened to derail Infantino’s expected re-election to a fourth term at FIFA’s Congress in March.

In a statement, FIFA said the members and top officials of the governing body, including Secretary-General Mattias Grafstrom, have reiterated their backing for Infantino as the “only member who was appointed by the 211 member associations”.

While the officials acknowledged that mistakes were made over the recent FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal aimed at selling a 20 per cent stake in a new commercial rights body to private investors to raise $4.2bn — with firms linked to relatives of US President Donald Trump.

The governing body then said that an apology has been issued in a separate letter to its managing council and member associations.

It also added that the organisation would “no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity” and would take “all necessary measures” to defend its reputation.

UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, said it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership and issued FIFA with a “document preservation letter”.