Infantino proposes an ‘independent external review’ of Fifa governance

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has agreed to commission an independent governance review after coming under mounting pressure to do so in the wake of the World Cup sale debacle.

The Guardian revealed last month that several members of the Fifa council had been lobbying for an external review of both the proposed Fifa Forward Enterprise sell-off and the Folarin Balogun controversy – with the Football Association chair, Debbie Hewitt, increasing the pressure last week by writing to Infantino demanding the release of all documents relating to both issues.

Related: Uefa and Concacaf ask Gianni Infantino to give Fifa's billions to its member associations

Infantino chose not to respond directly to the unhappy council members. But in a letter sent to all 211 of Fifa's member associations, he showed for the first time that he is willing to allow outside checks on Fifa.

Infantino also asked for ideas on how to improve the way Fifa makes decisions internally. He said this would be discussed at the next Fifa council meeting in Zurich on 15 October.

“First, I will ask the council whether it wishes to commission an independent external review of Fifa’s current governance framework for major strategic initiatives and recommend potential improvements,” Infantino wrote.

“Second, I will propose that the council establish a direct, structured and time-limited consultation with confederations, member associations and relevant stakeholders on how Fifa’s decision-making can be further strengthened.

The consultation would ask for specific ideas on getting institutions involved earlier. It would also cover the roles of the president, the bureau, the council and the congress. In addition, it would look at practical ways to improve transparency, participation and accountability in major strategic initiatives.

The Fifa Council, which comprises 28 representatives of the six confederations, eight vice-presidents and Infantino, is certain to approve the commissioning of an external review, although its terms of reference will be crucial in determining whether the world governing body is open to significant change or whether this represents the latest attempt by Infantino to shore up his power base before the presidential election in March next year.

Related: All the presidents’ meddling: the Balogun scandal shows how Fifa can break football | Barney Ronay

In his letter to the member associations, Infantino does not commit to reviewing FFE and Balogun specifically, however, so has stopped short of bowing to Hewitt’s demands.

Infantino is also under pressure to release money from Fifa’s $6bn (£4.5bn) cash reserves to its members, with the presidents of Uefa, and north and central American confederation Concacaf, Aleksander Ceferin and Victor Montagliani last week making a formal request for a payout of at least $10m for each national association.

Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, sent a similar letter on Monday. The issue of funding will also be discussed at the Fifa Council meeting next month.