Former FIFA vice president Jim Boyce attacked FIFA's proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup tournament to investors, stressing that the decision would have caused significant damage to the image of the game.
FIFA had floated the idea of selling around 20% of a new entity responsible for managing its tournaments, chief among them the World Cup, for up to $4.2 billion, before retracting the proposal following a wave of widespread criticism.
Boyce told Reuters: "Under no circumstances can this be sold to investors."
He added: "When you invest, you seek to make profits, whereas FIFA is a non-profit organization and does not need external investors to develop football around the world."
Boyce continued: "Fans felt dismayed by what happened, and they are now waiting to see what will be done to repair this damage."
He stressed: "The FIFA president holds an extremely important position, and if he wants to continue, he must begin repairing the harm caused by this proposal, which I consider absurd."
He concluded his remarks: "Infantino has several months to regain credibility, and if he succeeds, he may secure enough support to continue, but what happened represents a major blow to him."
UEFA had previously announced that its member associations would boycott FIFA competitions "as long as these proposals remain in place." (Read more)
CONCACAF officially rejected FIFA's proposal. (Read more)
The Asian Football Confederation also announced its rejection of FIFA's proposal (Read more)