FIFA scraps private investment plan after backlash

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Saturday he has scrapped a plan to permit private investment within the World Cup following fierce backlash from football officials worldwide.

“Our purpose has all the time been — and can all the time be — to unite and improve,” Infantino said in a press release. “In consequence, this proposal is not going to proceed.”

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FIFA, world football’s governing body, had floated the plan on Tuesday, saying it could raise as much as $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for a brand new FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a industrial subsidiary it proposed to run events similar to the World Cup and Club World Cup.

It said that, if approved, the project could provide each of FIFA’s 211 member associations with a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and increase their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20 million.

The Asian Football Confederation, which represents 47 member nations, welcomed the plan’s withdrawal on Saturday.

Any initiative which will impact global football must be “presented and discussed with the Confederations, the FIFA Council, Member Associations (MAs) and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent and meaningful manner,” the Kuala Lumpur-based body said in a press release.

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The Mexican Football Federation also welcomed the move, saying that “unity amongst all of the Confederations and Federations has been prioritized for the great of football”.

Earlier this week, European football’s governing body UEFA said none of its national teams would take part in any FIFA competition “for as long as these proposals remain alive”.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and North American and Caribbean federation (CONCACAF) also condemned the move.

“The World Cup can’t be treated as an investment product,” UEFA said in a press release. “No a part of it should ever be surrendered to personal investors. The World Cup isn’t on the market.”

Pressure mounted on Infantino on Friday with the resignation of senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro, who called the concept “a nasty deal for FIFA’s member associations, a nasty deal for football, and a nasty deal for the long-term way forward for the sport”.

South American confederation CONMEBOL, whose president Alejandro Dominguez is considered an in depth ally of Infantino, demanded further information on the “scope, structure, governance and potential effects” of the project.

 ‘Created divisions’

(FILES) This photo taken on October 8, 2015 in Zurich shows the doorway sign with the brand on the FIFA world headquarters. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Within the late-night statement announcing the plan was dead, Infantino said the project was conceived as a way of strengthening member associations, and that it could only have gone ahead if a majority supported it.

“Having listened rigorously to all of the views, it has grow to be clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, whatever the level of support, are not any longer within the interest of the target set out in the primary place,” he said.

FIFA had tried to fend off the critics, saying in a press release early Friday that it could proceed consultations with member associations and insisting that “no person is selling football”.

However the pressure mounted, and not only inside the football community.

A day after the European Union praised UEFA for “defending the integrity of the sport,” UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Friday that Infantino was “the fallacious man” to guide FIFA.

The beleaguered Infantino said he would focus now on restoring harmony while continuing to grow the sport.

“Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the approaching days and weeks within the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the target to proceed growing football all over the place, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support,” he said.