FIFA has strongly rejected claims that it is selling football as it vowed to continue with its controversial plan to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors, despite facing fierce opposition from European and North American football governing bodies.
The global football body said the consultation process had been “disrupted by incorrect media reports” and reaffirmed its commitment to an open and democratic consultation, insisting that “nobody is selling football” and that this was “not something FIFA would ever entertain”.
The statement came just a day after UEFA, the body that governs European football, voted on Thursday to boycott World Cups if the plan proceeded, with CONCACAF, which governs football in North and Central America, also saying its 41 member associations had “rejected” the proposal made by FIFA president Gianni Infantino. FIFA oversees world football and Infantino would need 106 of its 211 members to vote in favour for the proposal to go through, with UEFA and CONCACAF members combined making up 96 of those votes. The Asian Football Confederation has also expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process, while the governing bodies in Africa and Oceania have said they will discuss the plan in August.
The proposal involves FIFA creating a commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including World Cups, with external investors able to buy minority, non-controlling stakes in a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA said the subsidiary had been proposed “to ensure all FIFA member associations have the opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the commercial opportunity of football in their respective countries” and that this did not come at the cost of either the spirit or the governance of the game. However, UEFA has accused FIFA of using football “to enrich themselves and their friends”, with its statement reading: “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.”
Infantino previously wrote to FIFA members saying they would receive $40 million if they backed his proposal, setting a deadline of September 19 for federations to accept the plans if they wanted to access an initial $20 million. If approval is granted, FIFA says Thrive Eternal is expected to lead the proposed investor group for the subsidiary, with Thrive being an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared. CONCACAF questioned the need for private investment after what FIFA claimed was the most profitable World Cup in history, while the Asian Football Confederation said it was “unacceptable” that it had not been consulted before the proposal was publicly announced.
Chelsea manager and 2010 World Cup winner Xabi Alonso was asked about the situation during his side’s pre-season tour of Australia and expressed his opposition to the plan, saying: “I think that football has to be for the people, not in private hands and I think that the way we love it is this way and we have seen a great World Cup and it’s good to defend the interests of all the people. Hopefully it won’t happen and we will do it – we will keep the game as attractive and as authentic as we like it and that’s why it creates these emotions, these passions.”
UEFA’s boycott threat will be activated if Infantino’s funding deal is accepted, raising questions about the upcoming U20 Women’s World Cup starting on September 5 in Poland, which features plenty of European nations. In theory, countries could be pulling out of that tournament in the middle of the quarter-finals and before the semi-finals, with the next senior matches in a FIFA competition being the Women’s World Cup play-offs in October, which feature England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland among others. Infantino became FIFA president in 2016 and is due to stand for a fourth term in March, having been re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023, with some FAs around the world already confirming their intention to support the 56-year-old.
While UEFA members are among the richest on the planet, many nations elsewhere rely on FIFA funding for basic infrastructure, with the governing body having made $2.8 billion available for investment across its 211 member associations through its FIFA Forward development programme.
Former Football Association chief executive Mark Palios told the BBC that there were “the aspirations and needs of small nations, but you’ve also got large nations who have the power,” comparing the situation to the attempts to form a European Super League. Rogers Byamukama of the Ugandan Football Federation argued that any avenue that could lead to more resources for nations like his should be explored, saying that football was a very expensive venture on the African continent where resources were not easy to come by. “From my perspective, any avenue that brings in more resources is good because those resources would be distributed and given to federations, especially on the African continent and that would inspire growth,” he said, acknowledging UEFA’s right to speak out but suggesting that its members were not reliant on FIFA funding like many associations in the rest of the world where Infantino remains popular.
