FIFA on Tuesday announced plans to sell a stake in the business operations of the World Cup and its other competitions by creating a semi-private subsidiary, UNN reports, citing AFP.
Details
The world football governing body said it would retain a controlling stake in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) but hopes to raise $4.2 billion by the end of this year, "carefully selecting long-term investors who will acquire non-controlling minority stakes."
FIFA's statement was a swift reaction to an article in British newspapers The Times and The Financial Times, based on leaks about the plan from two sources.
The Times reported that FIFA President Gianni Infantino, 56, would benefit from this scheme by becoming a commissioner of FFE after his expected term ends in 2031. FIFA denied that this had been discussed.
The article also stated that discussions had begun with financial advisors and potential investors.
These include Thrive Capital, an investment firm founded and led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as a division of JP Morgan Chase, the American bank that attempted to finance the failed European Super League.
Sepp Blatter, Infantino's disgraced predecessor, drew attention to the American connections.
"The close relationship between the FIFA president and the U.S. president has reached a financial scale that deeply harms football. No one has the right to sell our game," the former FIFA president wrote on social media.
European football governing body UEFA, which has criticized Infantino, also reacted.
"This crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes this very seriously," a UEFA statement said.
"The soul and governance of football are not assets for trade, especially with zero transparency about who benefits financially. None of us owns football. FIFA has no right to sell it," the statement said.
The plan still needs approval from FIFA's 38-member council and a majority of member associations. FIFA said it intends to submit the plans to the council soon.
In its statement, FIFA said it "will retain exclusive control over FFE and exclusive authority over football governance, competitions, the match calendar, and all regulatory and sporting decisions."
FIFA said it believes FFE will achieve an "initial valuation of $20 billion."
FIFA said each of the 211 member associations will be given the opportunity to purchase a one-time stake in FFE worth $20 million.
That amounts to only 0.1 percent of the total, but it would be a significant sum for the leadership of poorer or smaller FIFA member associations.
"Together with other existing FIFA programs, these investments could bring the total planned FIFA development funding to more than $10 billion over the next four years," FIFA said.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, an Everton fan, condemned the plan, saying in a post on X that football is not a commodity.
"Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and stand on the sidelines every week in any weather. The World Cup is not a commodity. It is the greatest competition in world sport and no one has ever had the right to sell it. No matter how you try to dress up the deal. Once you have sold a part, you have sold everything. Football belongs to the fans. It always has and it always will," he wrote.
"Expansion to 64 teams"
In June, ahead of the World Cup, FIFA, which includes competition revenues in its annual income, forecast record revenues exceeding seven billion euros ($8 billion) in 2026.
That was the first World Cup with 48 teams. Earlier, Infantino said: "We discussed the possibility of expanding to 64 teams" by 2030.
The Times newspaper quoted an unnamed "high-ranking football figure" who called this plan "potentially much worse than the European Super League" because it would affect all levels of football worldwide.
Another anonymous source told the British newspaper that this plan would create "unacceptable" conflicts of interest for FIFA and Infantino.
In 2019, FIFA's stakeholders committee rejected Infantino's proposed plan for $25 billion in private investment to expand the Club World Cup. Among the alleged sponsors were Japan's SoftBank and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. FIFA did expand the tournament from seven teams to 32 clubs by 2025.
The Times newspaper suggested that the creation of FFE could affect the World Cup and the Club World Cup.
"This could lead to pressure to further expand both events or hold them more often than the current once every four years," the newspaper wrote.
FIFA has previously faced problems due to agreements that transferred commercial activities to private partners.
Estimates of losses for the ISL company, which negotiated World Cup broadcast rights and went bankrupt in 2001, ranged from $30 to $115 million.
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