This crosses a line – UEFA furious at FIFA’s World Cup private investment plan
UEFA insists the World Cup is not an “asset to trade” after FIFA confirmed plans to set up a private company to run its competitions which would have links to the extended family of United States President Donald Trump.
Football’s world governing body said on Tuesday it was seeking to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which it revealed would be responsible for bringing together the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights with the operational delivery of its tournaments. The creation of the company, FIFA said, was subject to approval from national associations and the FIFA Council.
FIFA said the creation of FFE would lead to a significant increase in football development funding to national associations and bring FIFA’s total planned spending on development to more than 10 billion US dollars (£7.5bn) over the next four years.
FIFA said, if the proposal was given the green light, the plan was to “carefully select long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests in FFE”. It revealed Thrive Eternal, a company launched in April by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, would lead the proposed investor group for FFE.
UEFA said in a statement: “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross.
“UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game.
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
The Press Association understands there is “much discontent and serious concerns” among UEFA associations and, while a meeting this week is yet to be confirmed, it is unthinkable one would not take place now.
Sources indicated there was “likely to be mobilisation” once letters from FIFA had been received by national associations.
The Times reported FIFA president Gianni Infantino could become the commissioner or chief executive of the new vehicle from 2031. He is seeking re-election as FIFA president next year on a four-year term.
FIFA’s statement did not provide any information on any role for Infantino within FFE, other than to say it would be owned and controlled by FIFA. The company’s implied valuation was 20bn USD (£15bn).
The vast majority of FIFA’s revenue is generated from the men’s World Cup, with The Guardian reporting earlier this month FIFA is set to announce the tournament in North America generated 15bn USD (£11bn) in income.
FIFA said JP Morgan had been engaged to work alongside it regarding the FFE proposal. FIFA’s release confirming the plans concluded: “Outside investors will have only a minority stake in FFE and will not play any operational role. Equally, they are investing in a subsidiary of FIFA, and not in FIFA itself. For FIFA, nothing changes.”
FIFA said it would retain “exclusive authority” over football governance, competitions, match calendar, and all regulatory and sporting decisions.
Private investors by their nature seek to drive up the value of a company, and an obvious way to achieve that in this case would be to increase the size and frequency of World Cups and Club World Cups. Infantino has already said further discussions will take place on increasing the number of teams involved in the World Cup from 48 to 64 teams.
UEFA’s statement follows on from its president Aleksander Ceferin opting not to attend the World Cup final in protest at a series of governance decisions and actions by FIFA he had not agreed with. Relations between the two bodies are severely strained.
The Football Association was completely unaware of FIFA’s plans until the global governing body released its statement on Tuesday afternoon, PA understands.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the World Cup was “not a product” and was “never anyone’s to sell”, adding on X: “Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.”
The news of FIFA’s plans to set up the private company came a day after it was announced Democrats on the US House Judiciary Committee had called on Infantino to come before it to examine what it describes as “FIFA’s sustained campaign to secure special favours from President Trump – including the dismissal of high-profile corruption cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars tied to FIFA – while American consumers were gouged by exorbitant World Cup ticket prices”.
Congressman Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the Committee, said in response to Tuesday’s development that FIFA was “now going directly into business with the Trump family”.
Congressman Raskin accused FIFA of “pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors”.
PA has contacted FIFA for a response to Raskin’s comments.
Published: by Radio NewsHub