Infantino abandons $20bn World Cup investment plan after backlash

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has pulled the plug on his controversial plan to sell private investors stakes in a new $20 billion company built around the World Cup and other major FIFA competitions, bowing to mounting opposition that had rapidly turned into a crisis inside football's global governing body.

The dramatic U-turn came late Friday, just days after the proposal was unveiled and amid escalating resistance from FIFA officials, regional confederations and European football associations.

In a statement, Infantino acknowledged that the plan had become too divisive to continue.

“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.

He added bluntly: “The proposal will not proceed.”

FIFA revolt forces Infantino retreat

The collapse followed an extraordinary day of internal dissent.

Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented FIFA on the White House Task Force for the 2026 World Cup, resigned as an adviser to Infantino in protest.

Cordeiro said he could not support a plan that would effectively hand private investors a stake in the commercial operation of FIFA's biggest competitions.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” he said in announcing his resignation.

His departure was followed by an even more damaging intervention from FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour.

Lamour told The Associated Press that FIFA employees had been misled by the lack of transparency surrounding the proposal, arguing that the project had been driven by Infantino without sufficient internal consultation.

“It is the project of one person,” Lamour wrote.

“Not only must this project not go ahead ... but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Coming from a senior FIFA executive and a longtime Infantino colleague, the criticism represented a significant challenge to the president's authority.

UEFA threatens unprecedented boycott

The proposal had already triggered an extraordinary response from European football.

UEFA's 55 member associations agreed to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions in protest, declaring that the sport's most important competitions should not be opened to private investment.

“Some things are simply too important to sell,” UEFA said.

The European governing body went further, describing the proposal as “not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA's duty as the custodian of world football.”

The rebellion was particularly embarrassing for Infantino because he spent decades inside European football before becoming FIFA president. He served as UEFA's general secretary before winning the FIFA presidency in 2016.

The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) subsequently joined the opposition.

What Infantino wanted to sell

Infantino's plan involved creating a new commercial subsidiary with a valuation of approximately $20 billion.

The proposed entity would have brought together FIFA's commercial operations, including the men's and women's World Cups and Club World Cups.

FIFA would have retained control while selling a 20 per cent stake to private investors.

The proposed anchor investor was a New York-based investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

The proposal was pitched as a way of generating greater financial resources for football development, particularly in countries that rely heavily on FIFA funding.

But critics feared private investors could gain excessive influence over decisions involving football's biggest competitions.

Those concerns were amplified by the possibility that commercial interests could encourage FIFA to expand tournaments, increase the number of matches and pursue more lucrative competition formats.

Infantino attempts to repair the damage

Having abandoned the investment plan, Infantino is now attempting to reunite the factions that his proposal divided.

“Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support,” he said.

But the damage may prove harder to repair than the proposal itself.

The next FIFA competition is the Women's Under-20 World Cup in Poland, beginning September 5 — a tournament UEFA members had threatened to boycott.

The withdrawal of the investment plan removes the immediate trigger for that confrontation, but the political wounds inside FIFA remain.

A serious blow to Infantino

Infantino has enjoyed remarkable political security since taking over FIFA.

He was re-elected unopposed in both 2019 and 2023 and remains eligible for another four-year term under FIFA's statutes.

The next presidential election is scheduled for March 2027, with nominations closing on November 18, 2026.

Until now, Infantino's re-election had appeared largely assured despite periodic complaints about his management style and his willingness to push through controversial reforms.

That certainty has been shaken.

The most damaging element of the failed proposal may not be that Infantino tried to sell a stake in FIFA's commercial empire.

It may be that, for the first time in years, the revolt came from inside FIFA itself.

A senior adviser resigned.

A senior executive publicly accused the leadership of misleading staff.

UEFA threatened a boycott.

Concacaf and the AFC joined the opposition.

And within days, a project Infantino had hoped would reshape FIFA's financial future was dead.

The president has now withdrawn the proposal.

But the political question it exposed is unlikely to disappear so quickly:

How much power can one FIFA president exercise before the football world decides it has had enough?