It's over.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino scraps his secret plan to sell a portion of the World Cup to investors.

In the end, it has come down to survival as Gianni Infantino became increasingly isolated and embattled in a tumultuous week that rocked football.

His plan to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling shares in its tournaments to investors came to light thanks to superb, old fashioned journalism by Martyn Ziegler of The Times newspaper.

Three and a half days later, it collapsed.

It first shocked, then outraged football, not least FIFA’s Executive decision-makers like German Bernd Neuendorf, who had been blindsided.

“One would expect to be informed in advance about such a significant decision, especially since it’s such a far reaching project,” he said to German radio.

“It’s so comprehensive, it must have been discussed within FIFA for months or even longer. It was never a topic of discussion in the Council. I was very surprised and also annoyed that we had to find out about something like this from the press.”

The plan needed the agreement of at least 106 of FIFA’s 211 members – a simple majority.

On the table was $40million each, if they backed the proposal.

European nations pressed the nuclear button, deciding unanimously to boycott all FIFA competitions if the plan went through.

This was particularly brave of minnows like San Marino, Andorra and Liechtenstein who have no realistic chance of qualifying for the World Cup yet chose the greater good over game-changing wealth.

“It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation,” said UEFA’s scathing statement.

“This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football.

“The World Cup is not for sale.”

Then the members of CONCACAF, the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, unanimously voted to reject the plan while not going as far as UEFA’s boycott.

This was followed by the Asian Football Confederation who did not say that a meeting of its member associations had taken place, but was also emphatic in its criticism of the plan’s secrecy.

“A proposal of such significance, with the potential to affect the commercial, sporting and strategic future of world football, must not emerge through processes that leave Confederations, Member Associations and even FIFA’s own governing bodies feeling sidelined,” it said.

FIFA scrambled to rescue the narrative, claiming that the proposal was underpinned by “unprecedented development funding, truly global ownership of the commercial opportunities of our sport, and full self-determination through a democratic process.

“Nobody is selling football. This it not something that FIFA would entertain. Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports.”

Without European nations, the World Cup could not have proceeded. Who would want to invest in something from which most of the world’s best players are absent?

But Gianni Infantino’s fortress began to wobble when his righthand man for four years, American Carlos Cordeiro, resigned.

“Football has been central to my life and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away,” his statement read.

“That is why this proposal should be rejected.

“Why this deal? Why now? What oversight exists? Who benefits?

“These questions remain largely unanswered, and yet member associations are being asked to make a decision of enormous consequence in barely 50 days or risk being left behind. That is not a responsible way to determine the future of the world’s game.”

Then, FIFA’s own Chief Operating Officer, Frenchman Kevin Lamour, broke cover, “and if that means I lose my job then so be it,” he said in a statement to the Associated Press agency.

“I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

He described the plan as “the project of one person” and claiming that FIFA’s own administration was “deceived” about it.

“the time has now come for football’s political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions,” he said.

Finally, in the small hours of Saturday, European time, Infantino gave it up.

“Having listened to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” his statement said.

“Our purpose has been, and will always be, to united and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.

“Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”

Infantino is running in next year’s FIFA election. At the moment, he is unopposed and in line to gain a fourth term that will take him to 2031.

The question is, after this week’s events, will someone think that he has weakened himself sufficiently to be beaten?