FIFA president Gianni Infantino has abandoned his controversial plan to sell stakes in the governing body’s competitions to private investors, following a wave of opposition from some of football’s most powerful regional bodies.
Infantino said the project had “created divisions” that no longer served its original purpose. “As a result, this proposal will not proceed,” he said in a statement.
The scrapped plan would have seen FIFA offer its 211 member associations $40m (£30m) in exchange for backing private investment in its tournaments, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, through a new commercial subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
But UEFA, which governs European football, voted to boycott World Cups if the plan went ahead, and other confederations quickly lined up against it.
FIFA’s own chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, admitted on Friday that the organisation’s administration had been “deceived” about the project, while Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned in protest, calling the proposal “a bad deal for football” that would “mortgage football’s future.”
Concacaf, which hosted this summer’s World Cup, said its members had rejected the plan outright, with sources indicating most associations in the region were losing faith in Infantino.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) then declared its solidarity with UEFA and Concacaf, effectively sealing the plan’s fate — a combined bloc of 136 votes against a proposal that needed just 106 of 211 to pass.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham went further, saying Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead FIFA.
In his statement, Infantino insisted the initiative had been intended to strengthen member associations, “especially in countries where support is most needed,” and stressed it was only ever meant to proceed with majority backing and proper consultation.
“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he said.
“Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve.”
He added that he now intends to “bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game.”
Cordeiro, who sat on the White House taskforce for the 2026 World Cup, becomes the first senior FIFA figure to step down over the affair.
In a lengthy resignation statement, he said he “unequivocally” opposed the plans and did not accept the notion that FIFA needed outside investors to unlock greater value, adding he had no involvement in shaping the proposal.
Lamour, describing the plan as “the project of one person,” said a president’s role is to “bring people together, unite them, and inspire them” – the opposite of what unfolded. “If that means I lose my job, then so be it,” he said.
“I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”
The fallout leaves Infantino facing real uncertainty ahead of his bid for a fourth term as FIFA president at the organisation’s Congress in Morocco next March – a re-election that, just days ago, had been widely expected to go unopposed.
(The Whistler)
