File photo. Photo: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
FIFA President Gianni Infantino abandoned his plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private equity investors early Saturday. He retreated after a revolt that united Europe, North America, and Asia against him and saw two of his own top officials publicly break ranks.
The reversal came less than a week after Infantino proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial operations, including the men’s and women’s World Cups and Club World Cups, into a $20 billion subsidiary. Private investors would have owned 20 percent. The anchor investor was Thrive Eternal, a fund led by Joshua Kushner, founder of the New York-based firm Thrive Capital. Joshua Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Boycott threat from 55 European nations forced the issue
The backlash grew daily after the plan was announced Tuesday. By Thursday, UEFA’s 55 member nations had voted to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions if the proposal went forward. North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also opposed it.
“Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”
That was UEFA’s statement, and the threat was concrete: the next FIFA competition is the Women’s Under-20 World Cup starting Sept. 5 in Poland, and UEFA members said they would boycott it.
Al Jazeera reported that UEFA accused FIFA of putting the sport’s “soul” up for sale and called it “irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret.”
Cordeiro resigned, called the plan ‘a bad deal for football’
The internal damage may prove harder to repair than the external opposition. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s senior adviser and a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned Friday.
“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup.”
Cordeiro’s resignation statement came just hours after FIFA had insisted publicly that “nobody is selling football.” Al Jazeera reported that Cordeiro called the plan “a bad deal for football” and urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.
Hours after Cordeiro quit, FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour issued a statement to The Associated Press saying FIFA staff had been deceived by Infantino’s lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months.
“It is 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.”
Lamour is a longtime colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA.
Infantino concedes: ‘This proposal will not proceed’
Infantino’s statement early Saturday framed the retreat as a choice to preserve unity.
“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.”
The plan would have raised up to $4.2 billion by selling roughly 20 percent of the new subsidiary, Al Jazeera reported. President Trump said Friday at Camp David that he did not speak with Infantino about FIFA offering stakes to external investors.
Trump ties and the Balogun red card loom over Infantino’s standing
Infantino was already under pressure over his perceived relationship with Trump during the 2026 World Cup, which was cohosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Al Jazeera reported that Trump revealed he called Infantino about a red card shown to U.S. star Folarin Balogun. That red card was thereafter suspended for a year, and Balogun was free to play in his country’s next World Cup match.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told reporters Friday that Infantino was “the wrong man to lead the organisation,” Al Jazeera reported.
Infantino’s grip on power faces a real test for the first time
Reelected unopposed in 2019 and 2023, Infantino is allowed one more four-year term under FIFA statutes. He is due to stand for re-election for a final term through 2031. The vote is scheduled for March in Rabat, Morocco, where FIFA has its African headquarters. The deadline for candidates to declare is Nov. 18, exactly four months before the election.
The Asian Football Confederation had been a key ally for Infantino during his 11-year presidency, but the AFC’s statement opposing the investment plan went further than a simple objection. It said the plans “exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed” and called on FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance framework.
North American soccer chief Victor Montagliani has been linked with a possible challenge to Infantino in the March election, Al Jazeera reported. Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC’s longtime president who narrowly lost the FIFA presidential election to Infantino in 2016, called the plans “totally unacceptable” on Thursday.
Infantino’s job had seemed secure despite long-term unease with his leadership style and previous attempts to force through unpopular projects. The failed private equity proposal, and the public rebellion it triggered from his own staff, could change that calculus. The Nov. 18 candidate deadline will be the next marker to watch.