A proposal that divided football
European football’s governing body UEFA has openly accused FIFA president Gianni Infantino of scheming a clandestine transaction that would hand over a share of the sport’s most lucrative tournaments to private investors.
The scheme, valued at roughly $4.2 billion, envisioned carving out a new entity that would control the World Cup, the Club World Cup and other flagship events, with a consortium led by Thrive Eternal — a U.S. fund linked to Jared Kushner’s family — holding the majority stake.
Lise Klaveness, president of the Football Association of Norway, joined her European counterparts in condemning the plan, arguing that it placed personal ambition above the global game, while Nasser Al‑Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint‑Germain, publicly denied any intention to challenge Infantino for the FIFA presidency.
Infantino, who has held the FIFA top post since 2016, defended the proposal as a means to modernise the sport but admitted that it had sparked deep divisions, ultimately announcing that the deal would not move forward and pledging to rebuild trust in the organization’s leadership.
UEFA’s statement concluded that the episode represented a step forward in confronting the issue, yet it stressed that comprehensive reforms are needed to prevent similar back‑room maneuvers in the future, a sentiment echoed by officials across Europe, North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Asia.