“Nobody is selling football,” FIFA said in a statement hitting back at widespread criticism over a plan to allow private investors to acquire stakes in upcoming World Cup tournaments.
“This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.” In a statement, FIFA said all of its member associations should have a chance to consider the plan, calling for an “open and democratic” consultation.
But it appeared to back off from establishing a public equity entity, the so-called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), if all member countries do not agree. It was not immediately clear, however, how the process would proceed in substance.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) had threatened to boycott the World Cup over Infantino’s plan on Thursday afternoon. Soon after, the football federations of CONCACAF (North and Central America), also voiced their unanimous opposition to the plan.
UEFA and CONCACAF comprise of 55 and 41 member associations respectively. The total number of member associations under FIFA is 211, and the plan would need to be approved by a simple majority in order to pass.
‘We will proceed with the consultation process’
“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports. We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member association) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”
FIFA has said the plan it announced on Tuesday could raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), the commercial subsidiary it proposed to run events such as the World Cup.
If approved, the project could provide each of FIFA’s 211 member associations with a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and increase their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8.0 million to $20 million.
Private investors would be allowed under the proposal to acquire stakes in the company but would remain minority shareholders. The original plan involves selling stakes of up to 20% to external investors, including Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared is US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
But FIFA said that without the support of FIFA’s 211 member associations, “FIFA’s commercial activities would remain unchanged. FFE would not be established.”
‘The World Cup is not for sale’
UEFA said in its statement that none of its national teams would participate in any FIFA competition “for so long as these proposals remain alive”.
“The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product… No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale,” it said.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Wednesday had described the initiative as a “golden opportunity to turbocharge the development of the game globally”.
However, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, who boycotted the World Cup final earlier this month to show his displeasure with FIFA which pre-dates this latest incident, said there was no place in world football for such a model.
“Football’s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return,” he said.
Several leading European federations and European Union officials also criticised the proposal as another step in the commercialisation of sport, while also raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
The EU praised UEFA on Thursday for “defending the integrity of the game”.
“Proud to see Europe’s football associations leading on governance, standing firm on their principles,” European commissioner for sports Glenn Micallef said in a social media post.
‘Game over, Gianni #InfantinOUT’
UEFA said in its statement on Thursday that the World Cup was “one of football’s greatest sporting legacies” and described the proposal as “a failure of leadership” and “governance by intimidation”.
Infantino’s high-stakes financial gambit now could threaten his previously secure 11-year presidency of FIFA as anger and frustration with him rise among soccer stakeholders, including three of the six continental bodies.
FIFA has set a 18 November deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.
Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — to have a clear path to being re-elected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031, despite a furore over letting United States forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium despite a red card in his previous game.
“Game over, Gianni #InfantinOUT,” the Football Supporters Europe group, which advises UEFA on fan issues such as ticket prices, posted after the boycott threat.
The next scheduled FIFA tournament is within weeks in Europe — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from September 5 — and the four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due 23 November.