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

UEFA have launched a scathing attack on FIFA over a leaked plan to sell stakes in the World Cup, a scheme reportedly capable of earning president Gianni Infantino millions of pounds personally. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has also weighed in, declaring bluntly that “the World Cup is not a product.”

According to reports corroborated across multiple outlets, FIFA has confirmed plans for a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would combine the sale of commercial rights with the operational running of its tournaments. Thrive Eternal, a company formed in April this year with links to the extended family of US President Donald Trump, is understood to be lined up to lead the investor group behind FFE, with the Trump administration reportedly consulted on the proposal.

Under the structure outlined by FIFA, the governing body would retain majority ownership of the World Cup, with private investors buying a stake of between 20 and 30 per cent. Member associations, of which FIFA has 211 worldwide, would collectively receive a 20 per cent stake. FIFA insists the arrangement would help expand football development funding to more than $10 billion (roughly £7.49 billion), money it says would be made available to all its member federations.

UEFA brands the plan a step too far

UEFA responded with a strongly worded statement branding the proposal a red line that football’s institutions must never cross. “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” the statement read, adding that the plan should concern “every National Football Association” and “every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game.”

UEFA went further, insisting that nobody has the right to treat the tournament as a commodity to be traded. “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” the statement continued. “None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”

One senior figure in the game, quoted by The Times and cited across British outlets, described the proposal as a “nuclear bomb” for football, reflecting the scale of alarm the plan has generated among administrators and supporters alike.

Burnham joins the backlash

Prime Minister Andy Burnham added his voice to the criticism, taking to social media to state plainly that the World Cup “was never anyone’s to sell.” He elaborated further, saying: “Let me say this very directly. Football does not belong to” private investors or individuals seeking to profit from it, echoing UEFA’s insistence that the tournament belongs to the game as a whole rather than any single governing body or backer.

The intervention from Downing Street underlines how quickly the row has escalated beyond football’s usual boardrooms, drawing in senior political figures concerned about the precedent a private stake sale in the World Cup could set. With FIFA yet to confirm a timetable for any formal vote on the FFE structure, pressure is mounting on Infantino to clarify exactly who stands to benefit financially should the plan proceed.

For now, FIFA has stood by its rationale that the scheme would ultimately channel billions towards grassroots and federation development worldwide. But with UEFA openly hostile and political figures such as Burnham adding their voices, Infantino faces a fight to convince football’s wider family that the World Cup’s ownership model should change at all.

Sources

• dailymail.com
• The Independent
• The Mirror

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