Editorial: FIFA and The DiBiase Principle

Once again, I’ll preface this that these are my opinions and they do not necessarily reflect those of anyone associated with Prost International.

Those who followed WWE during the late 1980s and early 1990s will undoubtedly remember “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and his catchphrase, “Everybody’s got a price”. The last few days has exposed the price FIFA President Gianni Infantino has as we are seeing “The DiBiase Principle” in real life.

The Times reported his plan to form a subsidiary to sell shares in its marquee competitions such as the Men’s and Women’s World Cup to private investment that would effectively control said competitions. FIFA confirmed to The Times that Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital is expected to lead the proposed investor group and JP Morgan is Fifa’s financial adviser on the project. Kushner, 41, is the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who Fifa says is not an investor.

On Wednesday, Infantino gave member federations until September 19th to vote on the proposal and said those in favor would receive up to $40 million (with a $20 million down payment) while a nay vote would see associations get only $10 million at most in the future.

All of this has met opposition, particularly from UEFA who said that the proposal “crossed a line” while Asia’s AFC and Concacaf have also expressed dismay over lack of consultation and due process. Conmebol has yet to release a statement about FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) specifically, but its president has boasted that the 2030 Men’s World Cup would be expanded to 64 teams. Africa’s CAF released a statement saying its executive committee would “assess and evaluate” the proposal.

Despite Czechia’s FA head backing the plan, all 55 UEFA members have voted to boycott future World Cups (of which two of its members–Spain and Portugal–are set to be co-hosts) if the proposal goes through. Add that to if all of Concacaf (35), and all of the AFC (46) vote in opposition, that would kill the proposal as that would be 136 votes right there. There’s no guarantee that would happen of course, but no guarantee that this will pass either. Would anyone want a World Cup if there were no European teams involved? It certainly wouldn’t feel like one.

Seeing what appears to be Infantino sell out to “people” like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin before him makes the FIFA President look pathetic. He has apparently jumped on the bandwagon of those whose belief in the game of soccer is superseded by their belief of the “free market” and capitalism. The fact that this proposal is in effect underwritten by someone remotely related to Trump is going to incur wrath and opposition.

FIFA, a non-for-profit institution, makes billions in revenue from the World Cup, but its leadership appears to want more money and is under the illusion that private investment will in and of itself benefit the game. Infantino’s offer of $40 million if associations support his proposal is a bribe. Some member associations are far too willing to take any money as we have seen in the past.

The proposal is nothing more than a brazen attempt to incorporate a sport that is meant to be played by anyone into a private enterprise that only a few are able to profit while everyone else has to fight for scraps. One has to ask themselves these questions: Why does FIFA need more money? Why does any billionaire need more money for anything? Why does any billionaire need more of anything?

If anything, the sport is getting dangerously close to killing off the goose that lays the golden eggs and exhausting its capital to keep the goose going. The calendar is already over saturated with bulging competitions and at some point, which may be sooner than later, fans will get exhausted as well. A fan’s enthusiasm for the game may be great, but it is not infinite.

Football is meant to be for everybody and in many cases free of charge. The sport is invaluable to many places around the world. The sport, let alone its most prestigious tournaments, should not be subject to a price–especially by people who feel that everybody has one.