FIFA cancels Infantino’s World Cup private equity plan after widespread backlash
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- FIFA announced it was canceling President Gianni Infantino’s plan to raise funds by selling stakes in the World Cup to private equity partners.
- FIFA senior adviser and former U.S. Soccer Federation president Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest before the plan was canceled.
- Asian countries joined UEFA and CONCACAF in strongly opposing the plan, with powerful European countries vowing to boycott World Cup events.
GENEVA — Pressure on FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his divisive plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity grew Friday as his senior advisor who sat on a White House panel resigned, his chief operating officer denounced it and Asia’s soccer body joined Europe and North America in opposing it.
By the end of the day, Infantino conceded defeat.
“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,” a statement released by FIFA Friday afternoon read. “Our purpose has always been - and will always be - to unite and improve.
“As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”
Before the decision was announced, the crisis reached into Infantino’s longtime inner circle when his pick to represent FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup walked away calling the Joshua Kushner-backed $20-billion commercial subsidiary plan “a bad deal for football.”
Carlos Cordeiro is a former Goldman Sachs banker and officially is Infantino’s senior advisor yet revealed he said he was not involved in the secretive investment plan that has rocked the sport since media reports revealed it Tuesday.
North American, European and Asian soccer bodies on Thursday rejected FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup.
“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement formally resigning, just hours after FIFA insisted in a statement: “Nobody is selling football.”
Cordeiro’s exit — and call for other senior staff to speak out — intensified scrutiny on Infantino one day after European soccer body UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA games and events until the plan is dropped. North America’s CONCACAF also rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20-million payments to each member federation by a mid-September deadline.
FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said staff were deceived by Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan, and suggested on Friday the project must not go ahead.
Following Cordeiro’s call to action, Lamour all but invited Infantino to fire him in a statement to the Associated Press that defended his colleagues amid intense fallout.
Lamour wrote that staff were “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months and “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”
“It is the project of one person,” Lamour, a longtime colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, wrote. “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.”
Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet President Trump at the White House in recent years, and took part in meetings of the administration’s World Cup task force led by Andrew Giuliani.
“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” said Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president.
Asia joins Europe and North America
On another seismic day in soccer politics, Asia’s soccer body that has been a key ally in Infantino’s 11-year presidency opposed the investor plan and said FIFA must urgently review its management style
The Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity” with UEFA and CONCACAF, the first two continental bodies to oppose Infantino whose combined 90 FIFA member countries near a majority of the 211 global total.
“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA’s 211 members
Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino plans to create a $20 billion company to run the World Cup with private investors that include the Kushner family.
The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“[T]he proposed [FIFA Forward Enterprise] cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward” and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.
The statement did not name Infantino yet criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan plus failing to consult about the secretive proposal.
“Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed,” said the AFC, whose longtime president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa narrowly lost the FIFA presidential election to Infantino in 2016.
“Accordingly, the AFC calls upon FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework,” said the organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Infantino’s job at risk?
Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, N.J. — to have a clear path to being reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031.
FIFA had briefed during the tournament that Infantino had letters of support from about 200 members, despite a furor over letting U.S. forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium even though he received a red card in his previous game. Trump acknowledged asking Infantino to review Balogun’s mandatory one-game ban.
FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.
Spain, Cape Verde, Erling Haaland and many magical moments helped spread World Cup fever, making the ambitious tournament expansion a success despite flaws.
FIFA blames the media
Late Thursday night in the U.S., FIFA blamed the media and initally doubled down on pursuing the project.
“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement
Dunbar writes for the Associated Press.
