Fifa scraps World Cup investment plan after Uefa boycott threat

Fifa has abandoned its plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors, bowing to pressure after Uefa threatened a boycott and two other confederations voiced opposition. President Gianni Infantino confirmed the U-turn on Friday, just weeks after unveiling the scheme.

The proposal would have seen private equity investment brought into Fifa’s flagship competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups. Infantino had offered each of Fifa’s 211 member associations $40m (£30m) if they backed the deal, with a vote due to decide its fate.

Boycott threat forced Fifa’s hand

Uefa’s 55 member associations voted this week to boycott World Cups and other Fifa competitions should the plan go ahead, a stance quickly echoed by Concacaf, which represents 41 nations across North and Central America and the Caribbean and hosted this summer’s World Cup. The Asian Football Confederation then declared its “solidarity” with both bodies, leaving Infantino facing near-certain defeat in any formal vote.

Under Fifa’s rules, Infantino needed 106 of the 211 member associations to back the proposal. With three of the sport’s biggest confederations lined up against him, that majority became effectively unreachable.

The Fifa president said the project had “created divisions” that were “no longer in the interest” of its original aims. “As a result, this proposal will not proceed,” he said, adding that he now intends to “bring all interested parties back together” in a “spirit of shared interest” in football.

Resignation and accusations of deception

The affair claimed a senior scalp within Fifa’s own ranks. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned over the plan, describing it as “a bad deal for football” that would “mortgage football’s future”.

Fifa’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, went further, saying the governing body’s own administration had been “deceived” about the project. That admission came despite Fifa initially insisting, in a statement on Friday, that “nobody is selling football” and that reports of the plan had been distorted.

Pressure mounts on Infantino

The climbdown leaves Infantino, who has led Fifa since 2016, facing renewed scrutiny as he seeks a fourth term as president at the Fifa Congress in March. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead the organisation, while some association heads have already suggested he should step down altogether.

The row has reopened wider questions about Fifa’s governance and Infantino’s relationship with figures including US President Donald Trump, who has referred to the Fifa chief as “the King of Soccer”. For now, though, the immediate crisis has passed — but the damage to trust between Fifa’s leadership and its member associations looks unlikely to heal quickly.

Read more: UEFA and Andy Burnham slam FIFA’s plan to sell World Cup stakes to investors

Sources

• The Independent
• BBC Sport
• The Mirror

This is an independent report written from the facts across the sources named above.