Infantino's $20bn World Cup Sell-off Plan Collapses
Gianni Infantino has scrapped his most explosive idea yet – a part-privatisation of the World Cup – after a week in which the sport’s powerbrokers turned on the FIFA president with rare, open fury.
The plan, wrapped in corporate language and sold as a development revolution, is dead. The fallout is only just beginning.
Infantino’s $20bn gamble collapses
On Tuesday, FIFA unveiled the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a new vehicle that would bundle the organisation’s commercial rights – broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing – with the operational delivery of its tournaments.
Behind the jargon sat a radical move: sell minority, non‑controlling stakes in this new enterprise to private equity investors. FIFA said FFE could be valued at around $20bn (£15bn), with up to $4.2bn (£3.1bn) raised from outside backers. In return, the governing body promised more than $10bn in “football development funding” over the next four years.
Infantino then gave the 211 member associations a deadline of September 19 to sign up, sweetening the pitch with a £30.1m incentive for those who backed the project.
It looked like a done deal. On paper, at least.
Instead, the backlash was immediate and ferocious. UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) all lined up against the proposal. The English FA voiced “deep concern”. On X, Prime Minister Andy Burnham cut through the spin with a simple reminder: “football belongs to fans”.
The pressure finally told in the early hours of Saturday.
In a statement released at 12.30am BST, clearly attributed to “the FIFA president”, Infantino confirmed the U-turn.
“The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed,” he said.
“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. Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve.
“As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”
Short. Clinical. No apology.
Revolt from within
The external revolt was damaging. The internal one was devastating.
Carlos Cordeiro, one of Infantino’s senior advisors, walked away in protest, branding the scheme a “bad deal for football” and “for the long-term future of the game”.
“As a senior advisor 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,” he said in a statement to Sky News. “Let me be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally.”
Then came another blow. FIFA’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, accused the president of shutting out his own staff. He said employees had been “deceived” by the lack of openness and told the Associated Press they “deserve better than contempt and intimidation”.
Lamour described the World Cup sell-off as “the project of one person” and called on football’s leaders to act.
This was not just political opposition from rival confederations. This was the president’s own inner circle turning on him, and doing so publicly.
Only hours earlier, FIFA had attempted to calm the storm with a statement insisting “nobody is selling football”. The damage was already done.
Confederations push back
If Infantino expected the confederations to fall into line, he misread the room.
UEFA rejected the proposal. So did CONCACAF. The AFC, which has often been aligned with the FIFA president, also broke ranks.
Writing on the AFC website, its president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa welcomed the decision to abandon the sell-off.
“Any initiative that has the potential to impact global football will be presented and discussed with the Confederations, the FIFA Council, Member Associations and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent and meaningful manner,” he said.
“The future of global football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our game.”
The message was unmistakable: you do not sell a stake in the World Cup without us, and you do not do it in the shadows.
A president fighting for survival
Behind the late-night statement sits a blunt reality. Infantino has not simply changed his mind. He has been forced into retreat to save his job.
Inside FIFA, his authority has rarely looked weaker. Outside, his standing has been shredded among the very confederations that once helped secure his dominance.
Sky Sports News chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol put it starkly: Infantino has “pulled the plug on his World Cup sell-off plan in a desperate attempt to keep his job as FIFA president”.
Under normal circumstances, the question would be how much this damages his reputation. Many in the game would argue there is not much left to damage.
Unseating a FIFA president remains notoriously difficult. Infantino knows that, and his instinct will be to cling on for as long as the statutes allow.
The timing is critical. A presidential election looms in March. Until this week, it was widely assumed Infantino would stand unopposed. He had already secured the backing of more than 200 of FIFA’s 211 member associations – including the English FA.
That support can no longer be taken for granted.
Federation presidents across the world are now weighing their options. The deadline for candidates to declare is November 18. Behind closed doors, phones will be ringing, alliances tested, alternatives explored.
Infantino, meanwhile, must explain himself – to FIFA Council members, confederation leaders, national FAs, staff, and the investors he courted in secret for a project that has blown up in his hands.
There is also the political embarrassment. Infantino had made big promises, including to President Trump. Trump, as Solhekol pointed out, “famously doesn’t like losers”. Infantino promised him something he could not deliver.
How long before even that relationship cools?
Who steps up?
Names are already circulating, even if nobody has yet stepped formally into the ring.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Paris Saint-Germain president and one of the most influential figures in the sport, has been mentioned. He sits on UEFA’s executive committee and has deep ties across the game. But indications are that he is not interested in replacing Infantino.
Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC president who finished runner-up in the FIFA presidential election a decade ago, is another logical contender. He has publicly opposed the sell-off and now stands on the side of those calling for governance to be respected.
Victor Montagliani, the CONCACAF president, will also be watched closely. His confederation has historically been close to Infantino, and the last World Cup was staged across three CONCACAF nations. Yet even CONCACAF rejected the FFE proposal on Thursday.
Then there is Aleksander Ceferin, the UEFA president. Inside Europe, he is seen as the antithesis of Infantino: a man with a very different vision of how football should be run. Under Ceferin, there would be no hydration breaks for TV, no FIFA Peace Prizes, no Qatari-owned private jets for the president, no $1m (£742,000) World Cup tickets.
He would be a popular candidate in many quarters. But he has never publicly expressed any desire to move to FIFA.
For now, that may be Infantino’s biggest protection. The sport is angry, but it is not yet organised behind a single challenger.
After the climbdown
Infantino has promised to “bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game”. He insists the objective remains to “continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support”.
The rhetoric is familiar. The difference now is trust.
He tried to sell a slice of the World Cup. His closest allies revolted. The confederations rebelled. Governments weighed in. The plan is gone.
The question that will dominate the corridors of FIFA from Zurich to the next Congress is far simpler.
If he could not carry world football with him on this, how long can Gianni Infantino credibly claim to lead it?
