The Football Association continues to believe Gianni Infantino is no longer the right man to lead FIFA despite his own organisation throwing its "full support" behind him on Wednesday night.
FA sources had indicated earlier this week it was sending a letter to FIFA confirming it no longer supports his candidacy for re-election at next year's Congress.
That position is understood not to have been altered by the apology offered to national associations by FIFA and Infantino over its handling of a plan to involve private investors in a company which would run the World Cup and other competitions.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) has publicly withdrawn its support, along with the FAs of Serbia, Sweden and Finland.
Sources told the Press Association on Wednesday night that FIFA's statement had only stoked the fire of the anger his opponents felt towards him, predicting there would now be "open warfare" at the top of world football politics.
Even before Wednesday's statement, FIFA Council members were understood to be working to secure the 19-strong majority needed to request Infantino to call a meeting, where they could hold him to account over the private investor plan and the Folarin Balogun case.
Members are understood to remain prepared to carry out a 'governance boycott' of Council meetings -- which would effectively incapacitate FIFA -- if they are unable to reach a majority, or if Infantino refuses the request for a meeting despite gaining the requisite majority.
FIFA's statement said Infantino had the "full support" of the members of its management board present at Wednesday's meeting in Rabat, Morocco, with the Swiss clearly intent on remaining in charge despite opposition building towards his presidency.
The statement said "mistakes were acknowledged" about the handling of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal and that it was "not the intention" for the FIFA Council or member associations to "feel excluded" from the process.
A review into the handling of the FFE proposal was promised, though the statement insisted "everything that was done was done in full compliance with the FIFA regulatory framework."
The statement also said FIFA "will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation."
On Tuesday the president of the Jordanian Football Association, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, had accused FIFA of "blackmail" in a post on X, claiming it had promised during the World Cup to help with the recovery of money if the JFA gave its support to Infantino.
FIFA is aware of that allegation but has so far not commented on it. Prince Ali issuing a follow-up on X on Thursday morning saying money he alleged was owed had "suddenly" appeared, but said his position on Infantino remained unchanged and he would not vote for him.
A report in The Guardian on Wednesday alleged FIFA was a key player in talks to develop the European Super League in 2020, to the extent the league was at one stage set to be called the 'FIFA Super League'. FIFA did not comment directly on the report, instead pointing out Infantino's "strong disapproval" of the project when it was finally launched in April 2021.
It did issue a denial to a report in The Times on Wednesday that Infantino had promised Morocco the right to host the 2030 World Cup final, saying that a decision on that matter would be made in due course. Morocco is one of three main co-hosts for the tournament, along with Spain and Portugal.
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UEFA was one of three continental confederations which publicly rejected Infantino's private investor proposal last week, and even threatened to boycott FIFA competitions including the World Cup until it was scrapped.
Even when Infantino confirmed last Saturday that the plan would not proceed, UEFA issued a further statement confirming it had "lost confidence" in the Swiss.
UEFA has not yet commented on the FIFA statement published on Wednesday.