FIFA scraps World Cup private investment plans as Infantino fights for his future

FIFA and Gianni Infantino have performed a dramatic U-turn on his plot to sell a stake in its commercial and event operations after widespread condemnation of the plans.

In a statement late on Friday night, the under-fire FIFA president said: “Having listened carefully 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.

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

Infantino’s proposal attracted major opposition from UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian federation (AFC), with the European confederation saying all 55 of its members would boycott FIFA competitions, including World Cups, if the plans remained on the table.

FIFA responded with a statement early Friday morning in Europe, in which it insisted “nobody is selling football” and that while it “acknowledges and respects feedback and concern aired in public”, it would press on with the proposals, adding that it “reaffirms its commitment to an open and democratic consultation.”

But soon after FIFA released that statement, AFC followed up with its own statement saying it stood in solidarity with UEFA and Concacaf, the North and Central American confederation.

Infantino was then dealt two seismic internal blows.

First, his adviser Carlos Cordeiro quit his role, eviscerating the plan in a statement that called it “a bad deal for FIFA’s Member Associations, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game.”

Then FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour told The Associated Press that staff had been “deceived” by Infantino and that he would sleep better after speaking out on the matter, even if it cost him his job.

“It is the project of one person,” Lamour said. “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.”

Joshua Kushner’s venture capital firm Thrive had not pulled out of the deal as of Friday night, but that became moot once FIFA leadership ultimately decided to pull the plug via a statement.

World football’s governing body had announced Tuesday that it wanted to set up a new private entity — FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) — which would run its main events, such as the World Cups and Club World Cups, and that it was looking to sell a 21 per cent minority stake in FFE to outside investors.

That sale would have aimed to bring in $4.2 billion (£3.2bn), which FIFA said could have been immediately released to its 211 member associations as part of a new funding stream called the FIFA Fast-Forward Programme (FFFP).

Under the plan, FIFA’s total development funding would have topped $10 billion over the next four years. Despite the mounting criticism as the days passed, FIFA confirmed that if member associations were opposed to the FFE plan but the proposal passed, those opposed would still receive $20 million (£14.9m) each in the 2027-30 cycle (followed by $22 million in 2031-34 and $24 million in 2035-38), irrespective of whether any stake in FFE is sold to private investors.

However, if that member association had agreed to the FFE proposal, it would receive $40 million in 2027-30, with the subsequent payments to remain the same.

The three federations that went on record against FIFA’s plan represent 137 of the 211 FIFA member associations. FIFA had said it would need a majority of its 211 member associations and approval from its 37-strong FIFA Council — which includes Infantino and the eight FIFA vice presidents — for the proposal to advance.

CONMEBOL, South America’s football confederation, issued a statement late Friday which did not reject the plans but said that financial and commercial decisions “must always serve the interests of football and never take precedence over its essence.”

FIFA’s statement a few hours later then took everything off the table.

The Athletic reported that Infantino’s future leadership of FIFA was questioned during the meetings of UEFA and Concacaf on Thursday.

Infantino has been FIFA president since succeeding Sepp Blatter in February 2016 and had been expected to stand unopposed in the next election in March 2027.

“My clear impression at the moment is that he has lost a great deal of trust,” Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Federation, told VG.

“We didn’t vote for him last time, and we’ve been sceptical about this. There are many good things about FIFA, but if you take a lax approach to governance principles and rules, you quickly lose trust.”

Where does this leave Infantino?

Analysis from Adam Crafton

This has been a humbling for Infantino. He began the week as the FIFA president who oversaw $15 billion in revenue from the summer’s men’s World Cup, and many within the game were resigned to him securing another term as president in next spring’s election. Many federations had even submitted their letters committing support to him.

To see him publicly rebuked by several major confederations represented a devastating and stunning development. UEFA’s threat to boycott carried weight, but once Concacaf and the AFC joined in, Infantino was vulnerable to being outvoted.

Then, his own team turned on him, first Cordeiro, then Lamour. A battle for ideas had become a battle to save his job. Infantino has prioritized the latter, but the vultures are now circling, and he may now face challengers in the 2027 elections.

Nominations must be made by November. Expect a battle.

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