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FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, is shelving a controversial plan that would have allowed for billions of dollars in private commercial investment in the World Cup after the proposal was met with fierce opposition from its member nations.
“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,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement Friday evening.
Earlier this week, the British newspaper The Times first revealed Infantino’s secret plan, called FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE, under which FIFA would have created a commercial rights and event operations company, 20% of which was to be sold to private investors with FIFA retaining ownership of 80%.
FIFA had said that FFE would be given an initial evaluation of $20 billion, with $4.2 billion going to “carefully selecting long-term investors.”
FIFA confirmed in an earlier statement that Thrive Eternal, a venture spearheaded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was “expected to lead the proposed investor group.” Thrive Eternal is a subsidiary of Thrive Capital, an investment firm owned by Joshua Kushner.
FIFA had estimated that under the deal, the 211 member associations of FIFA would see their so-called FIFA Forward Funding rise from $8 million per four-year cycle to approximately $20 million.
On Tuesday, a source close to Thrive Capital told CBS News that criticism of the firm’s involvement was unjustified.
“I think the first assumption is that Trump was involved in FFE in any capacity, which is just not accurate,” the source told CBS News. “Josh himself does not have any links with the administration, he does not have any political roles, he has not donated to them, he is not involved in any capacity. If you look at his donation record, all of the causes he has donated to are Democrat … it’s kind of unfair to assume a lot about somebody just because of what their brother does.”
Asked by reporters during a Cabinet meeting Friday if FIFA officials or Infantino had spoken to him about Infantino’s plan, Mr. Trump responded, “No, I never spoke to him.”
The blowback from Infantino’s proposal was swift. UEFA, Europe’s powerful soccer federation, announced Thursday that its 55 members had agreed to boycott competitions organized by FIFA, including the World Cup, if Infantino pushed forward with his project, calling it “irresponsible and indefensible.”
“The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product,” UEFA said. “It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies,” adding that “the World Cup is not for sale.”
North America’s soccer governing body, the 41-member Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, followed suit, rejecting the plan and questioning “the need for private equity investment to fund new and existing FIFA Forward programs following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history.”
CONCACAF, however, stopped short of making a boycott threat.
On Friday, the Asian Football Confederation released a statement in which it didn’t outright reject the plan, but said that it stood “in solidarity with UEFA and CONCACAF in expressing serious concerns over FIFA’s proposal to introduce private investment into FIFA’s flagship competitions and the decision-making process around FFE.”
Also Friday, Carlos Cordeiro, one of Infantino’s senior advisers, resigned from his post, saying in a statement that he could not “stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup.”
“The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed,” Infantino said Friday. “And more so, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the FIFA Member Associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA Council, the Confederations and wider stakeholders.”
Infantino has received mounting criticism in recent months over his close relationship with Mr. Trump leading up to the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. hosted with Mexico and Canada. Last year, Infantino awarded Mr. Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.
Earlier this month, during the World Cup tournament, Mr. Trump said he personally asked Infantino to review a red card that was given to U.S. striker Folarin Balogun during a knockout game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under FIFA rules, the red card required that Balogun be suspended for the team’s next match against Belgium.
“All I did, I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “… If they wouldn’t allow, you know, a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best players on the team, I think it would have had a big stain. And I related, just that, I didn’t tell him what to do, I can’t tell him what to do.”
In an unprecedented move, FIFA overturned Balogun’s suspension just one day before the Belgium match, and without a detailed explanation.
