FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s ambition to turn the organization’s commercial windfall into a private‑equity venture has unraveled within weeks of its announcement.
The proposal, which would have spun off FIFA’s commercial operations into a $20 billion subsidiary with a 20 percent stake earmarked for private investors, was met with immediate resistance from the sport’s continental governing bodies.
European football’s governing body, UEFA, declared that the World Cup ‘belongs to football’ and would never be for sale, while North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation echoed the sentiment, warning that any sale would betray the sport’s universal roots.
A Plan That Never Took Off
The backlash culminated in a series of high‑profile departures. Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Infantino and member of the White House panel overseeing the plan, resigned and publicly urged colleagues to reject the scheme. Shortly after, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour accused the president of deceiving staff and warned that the project represented ‘the project of one person’ rather than the federation’s collective interest.
Central to the financial blueprint was an anchor investor: a New York‑based firm founded by Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to former President Donald Trump’s daughter. The involvement of the Kushner family added a political dimension to the already contentious proposal.
European and global football bodies also threatened to boycott the upcoming Women’s Under‑20 World Cup in Poland, scheduled to begin just weeks after the controversy erupted, further isolating Infantino’s initiative.
With Infantino’s re‑election unopposed in 2019 and 2023, the failed deal has opened a window for challengers ahead of the November 18 election in Rabat, Morocco, where FIFA’s African headquarters are located.