FIFA President Gianni Infantino immediately came under fire on Tuesday after announcing his plans to launch a $20 billion private investment group to run and promote the World Cup.
The announcement did not sit well with members of the Union of European Football Associations, who accused Infantino of trying to buy and sell soccer out from under them.
“It is not FIFA’s to sell,” UEFA said in a statement, according to the New York Post. “None of us are the owners of football.”
Coming off his huge success with the 2026 World Cup games, the FIFA chief is now looking to form what he labeled the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which private individuals and companies, including the Kushner family, would fund.
He said he plans to raise at least $4.2 billion at the outset to get the funding arm up and running “based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests.”
Infantino said he is working with J.P. Morgan to structure the investment group and added that one of the first investors would include Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner.
But UEFA was dissatisfied with the announcement and accused Infantino of stepping out of turn.
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” UEFA exclaimed in a statement. “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” the organization added.
The move is certainly a departure from its current makeup. FIFA is currently a non-profit registered out of Switzerland and boasts 211 member organizations worldwide.
Infantino, though, disputed the claims that only a select few would benefit from his plan. “This is about the democratization of football worldwide,” he said in his statement.
Still, this is not the first time Infantino has proposed such an investment plan. He pushed a similar plan in 2018—backed by Saudi Arabia—that failed to withstand a vote by FIFA’s membership.
Infantino has a lot of time to push his plan. He seems destined to easily win a fourth term as FIFA chief that will carry him to the year 2031, when he will turn 61.
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