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FIFA has announced it is dropping plans to allow private investors to purchase stakes in major competitions following fierce pushback.
In a statement, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the project had “created divisions” that were “no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.”
“Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed,” he added.
The football governing body had outlined a proposal in late July that it said would increase funding to its 211 member associations through a new subsidiary running its commercial operations and events, including World Cups.
Dubbed the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), the venture aimed to cash in on what Infantino described as the sport’s “remarkable commercial value” by inviting third parties to take minority, non-controlling investments in the new entity.
FIFA said FFE could raise up to $4.2 billion based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion.
Backlash
The proposal has been widely condemned across the footballing world and beyond, with many accusing Infantino and FIFA of attempting to sell the sport.
European governing body UEFA and its 55 member associations threatened to boycott FIFA events over the plan, saying “the World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product.”
“No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
CONCACAF, or the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, also rejected the plan and called for “greater transparency and proper governance” in the wake of the controversy.
The saga has put Infantino, who was first elected as president in 2016, under huge pressure in his role, and prompted the resignation of one of his senior advisors, Carlos Cordeiro.
Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, also slammed the investment plan as “the project of one person.”
“Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions,” he said in a statement to the Associated Press earlier this week.
Infantino had already been facing a wave of criticism over FIFA’s handling of a number of incidents in the 2026 World Cup, which was held across the United States, Mexico and Canada – most notably the decision to suspend a ban for USA striker Folarin Balogun.