July 31 (UPI) — FIFA dropped a plan on Friday to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors after severe backlash from worldwide soccer confederations.
President Gianni Infantino had revealed earlier this week a plan to create FIFA Forward Enterprise, which would have offered a 20% stake to private investors in the $20 billion venture.
“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,” Infantino said in a statement. “Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve.”
“As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”
Finding investors for FFE would have been handled by Thrive Eternal — an investment firm owned by Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
But the move was widely panned. The Union of European Football Associations said its 55 national teams would boycott all upcoming FIFA competitions “so long as these proposals remain alive.”
Also opposed were the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football and the Asian Football Confederation.
Infantino’s plan also faced opposition from within his own team. Senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president, resigned Friday over the proposal.
“As a senior adviser to the FIFA president, a former banker and a lifelong football fan, I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally. It is a bad deal for FIFA’s member associations, a bad deal for football and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game.”