Infantino forced to turn around, no private investments in FIFA

The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has given up on the plan to open the organization to private investors, which ended up at the center of strong criticism due to fears of an increasing commercialization of football and suspicions of conflict of interest.

“After listening carefully to all points of view, it became clear that the project has created divisions that are no longer in the interest of the initial objective,” Infantino said in a statement. “Our objective has always been, and will always be, to unite and advance football. The proposal will therefore not be carried forward”, added the FIFA president, already weakened by the recent resignation of his main advisor, Carlos Cordeiro.

Fifa’s project on private individuals

Presented as a surprise last Tuesday, the plan aimed to raise up to 10 billion dollars to be allocated to the development of football over the next four years. To achieve this objective, FIFA intended to create a new company, the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), open to private investors and responsible for managing the organisation’s commercial activities and events.

Fifa planned to raise up to 4.2 billion dollars by selling up to 20% of the new company to private investors, who would still remain minority shareholders. If the project had been approved, each of the 211 member federations would have received an extraordinary contribution of 20 million dollars at the beginning of 2027 and would have seen their funding for the four-year period 2027-2030 increase from 8 to 20 million dollars.

Breaking: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has scrapped his proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup after widespread backlash, including from within global soccer’s governing body, and a threatened boycott by European Nations.

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— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 31, 2026

The federations’ criticism of Infantino

The project has aroused harsh opposition,in particular from UEFA, which brings together 55 European federations. On Thursday the continental body had unanimously threatened not to participate in future competitions organized by FIFA, including the World Cup, if the plan was not withdrawn.

Even Concacaf, which represents the federations of North and Central America and the Caribbean, had rejected the proposal. The Asian Confederation (AFC) had complained about the absence of the necessary consensus, while Conmebol had asked for further clarifications, inviting them to “always put football above all other interests”. The African and Oceanian confederations had instead invited their respective federations to carefully examine the project.

The president of the AFC, Shaikh Salman, welcomed the withdrawal of the proposal, underlining that “the future of world football must always be built through adequate consultations, collective dialogue and respect for governance structures”. The Mexican Federation also expressed satisfaction, stating that “the unity of all confederations and federations has rightly been privileged in the interest of football”.

Doubts about conflicts of interest

Among the potential investors identified by critics was the Thrive Eternal fund, founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Infantino’s closeness to Trump, shown several times before and during the 2026 World Cup, had fueled further controversy.

The former president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, had defined the project as a sale of “the soul of football”, while the president of the Norwegian Federation, Lise Klaveness, had defined it as “a form of blackmail”, maintaining thatFifa “did not need that money”.

Fifa had set September 19 as the deadline by which the 211 federations would have to express their opinion on the proposal. UEFA had criticized the timing, speaking of an “ultimatum” and “governance through fear”. The calendar was also linked to the elections for the FIFA presidency scheduled for March 2027, in which Infantino is, at the moment, the only candidate officially running for re-election.