FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan to create a $20 billion company running the World Cup with private investors that include the Kushner family was announced Tuesday—and immediately attacked by European soccer body UEFA. “It is not FIFA’s to sell,” UEFA said in a statement, per the AP. “None of us are the owners of football.” Infantino’s plans to form the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) that would run competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup were first reported by the London Times and the Financial Times.
FIFA said in a statement that FFE would raise up to $4.2 billion later this year to help fund development programs “based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests.” FIFA is working with JPMorgan, while investors would include Thrive Eternal launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of President Trump. The men’s World Cup that finished this month only deepened the political and personal ties between Trump and Infantino, and fueled concerns about those ties, including from UEFA. “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade—especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” UEFA said Tuesday, responding to the reports of selling stakes in FIFA competitions.
FIFA is currently a Swiss-based not-for-profit association of its 211 national member federations worldwide. Those 211 members must approve any plan and would get the chance “to access up to $20 million in one-off capital,” FIFA said. “This is about the democratization of football worldwide,” Infantino said in a statement. UEFA, however, said it took reports of the project “extremely seriously. So should every national Football Association.” “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” said UEFA, which comprises 55 of FIFA’s members.
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