FIFA scraps World Cup investment plan

FIFA announced on Friday that they have scrapped their plans to sell stakes in their major competitions to private investment after it was met with intense opposition–particularly by UEFA, Concacaf, and the AFC. FIFA released the following statement in part:

“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,”

UEFA, Concacaf, and AFC spoke out in opposition of the plan, which would have required a majority of the 211 member associations. Assuming unanimous nay votes by the aforementioned confederations would have resulted in the proposal not passing UEFA’s 55 members, Concacaf’s 35 FIFA members, and the AFC’s 46 would have totaled 136 votes. UEFA had threatened a boycott of all FIFA competitions had this proposal moved forward.

It’s been a rough week for FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Earlier on Friday, senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro (former US Soccer President) resigned his post over the proposal and FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour says the governing body’s own administration has been “deceived” about the project.

This proposal has put Infantino in a vulnerable position as he is up for election in March 2027 and now may face opposition for the post. Infantino has been president of FIFA since 2016 after Sepp Blatter resigned shortly after re-election. After this proposal which this outlet expressed its opposition to on Thursday, the question will be whether Infantino will stand for reelection at all.