FIFA president Gianni Infantino was forced to abandon a highly controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors on 31 July, after an unprecedented backlash from football's most powerful governing bodies toppled the proposal within days of its announcement. The scheme would have created a $20 billion commercial subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), consolidating the organisation's revenue streams — broadcasting, sponsorships, ticketing and tournament operations — with private investors, led by Joshua Kushner's New York-based venture capital firm Thrive Eternal, taking minority stakes. Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.
The plan unravelled with remarkable speed. UEFA, the body governing European football and its 55 national associations, held an emergency meeting and voted unanimously to boycott World Cups and all other FIFA competitions if the proposal moved forward. CONCACAF, which oversees football in North, Central America and the Caribbean, and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), representing 46 member associations, also formally opposed it. With those three confederations together commanding well over the 106 votes needed to block any such measure, the arithmetic became decisive. The collapse was accelerated by an internal revolt: Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's senior adviser on global strategy, resigned, describing the plan as "a bad deal for football" that would "mortgage football's future". FIFA's own chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, issued a public statement saying the organisation's administration had been "deceived" and that the project was "the initiative of one person".
After withdrawing the plan, Infantino acknowledged it had "created divisions" that were "no longer in the interest" of its stated objectives. But the damage to his presidency appeared far from contained. UEFA declared it had lost confidence in Infantino's leadership entirely, quoting promises of transparency he made when first campaigning for the presidency in 2016. "The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent," UEFA's statement read. CONCACAF stopped short of naming Infantino directly but was equally pointed, saying the episode was "a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first" and calling for "a full review" of FIFA's leadership. The Football Association of England, the Norwegian Football Federation, and the global players' union FIFPRO added their voices to the chorus. Andy Burnham, the UK Prime Minister, who had earlier called Infantino "the wrong man" to lead FIFA, said the withdrawal was "the right decision".
The episode is not without precedent. Infantino faced similar crises in 2018, when a secretive $25 billion offer from Japan's SoftBank to reshape club competitions collapsed under scrutiny, and in 2021, when his proposal for biennial World Cups was shelved after fierce opposition — also partly led by UEFA. On both occasions he survived politically and was subsequently re-elected unopposed. This time, however, observers note the political landscape may be meaningfully different. UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has emerged as the most prominent institutional critic, and with the next FIFA presidential election due in 2027 — and a deadline of 18 November for candidates to register — speculation is growing about whether a serious challenger will enter the race for the first time in years. Names in circulation include Čeferin himself, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, who ran against Infantino in 2016, and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, though a representative for Al-Khelaifi has denied any intention to stand.
The affair has raised fundamental questions about the governance model of football's global body. FIFA is a non-profit organisation registered under Swiss law, and critics argued the FFE proposal represented an attempt to embed private capital within a structure held in public trust on behalf of the sport. "FIFA is not a private enterprise. It is a body held in trust for the game and its members," CONCACAF's statement said. The Qatar Football Association was among the few voices to publicly back Infantino, praising his decision to prioritise unity while noting the proposal had "merit". Whether the episode marks a decisive turning point or another chapter in a resilient presidency remains the central question facing world football.