FIFA plan for Kushner-backed $20 billion operation to run World Cup meets fury from Europe’s UEFA
The plan would sell minority stakes in a new subsidiary, with UEFA warning that football’s governance and commercial rights are not assets to trade.
- FIFA President Gianni Infantino officially presented a controversial proposal to create "FIFA Forward Enterprise," a new subsidiary valued at $20 billion designed to manage the commercial operations of the World Cup, with plans to raise $4.2 billion by selling minority stakes to private investors.
- European football’s governing body UEFA sharply condemned the move in an official statement, declaring that "it is not FIFA's to sell" and warning that monetizing global football governance through private capital crosses an unacceptable institutional line.
- Supported by financial advisors like J.P. Morgan, the project reportedly involves high-profile private equity firms including Joshua Kushner's Thrive Eternal, while Infantino seeks to win over FIFA's 211 national member associations by offering them one-off capital payouts of up to $20 million each.
- While Infantino defends the initiative as a step toward "democratizing" football development funding worldwide, critics and rival officials argue that the arrangement lacks transparency and could serve to secure his long-term executive influence over the tournament beyond his presidential term.
355 Articles
355 Articles
Fifa under Gianni Infantino is planning a billion-dollar deal with investors. He is supposed to contribute to the "democratisation of football", but is likely to achieve the opposite.Do you still remember the tennis balls and remote-controlled cars on the football fields of the Bundesliga?For weeks, fans had protested against a planned investor start in the season 2023/2024. In February 2024, the German Football League (DFL) stopped the project.…
The dispute between football's governing bodies is taking on new dimensions. The question at the forefront is: will Uefa boycott FIFA? All 55 UEFA members will attend an extraordinary meeting this weekend to discuss controversial proposals by FIFA regarding the possible sale of stakes in its major competitions.
FIFA Under Fire Over Plan To Sell World Cup Stake To Joshua Kushner Investment Firm
Controversial plans to sell stakes in the FIFA World Cup to private investors have sparked a furious response from football authorities and politicians. UEFA, the body that governs European football, took the unprecedented step of releasing a statement condemning FIFA’s plan, which involves creating a new entity that would house the commercial rights to its […]
Among others, the European football governing body UEFA and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham have criticized world football governing body FIFA's plan to… commercial rights to future World Cups.
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