FIFA said Tuesday it plans to sell a stake in the business operations of the World Cup and its other competitions through the creation of a semi-private subsidiary.
World football’s governing body said it would retain a majority share in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) but hoped to raise $4.2 billion later this year by “carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests”.
FIFA’s statement was a rapid response to a story in The Times, the British newspaper, based on leaks of the plan from two sources.
The Times reported that Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, stood to profit from the scheme by becoming commissioner of the FFE after his expected next term expires in 2031.
The article also said discussion had started with potential investors.
It named Joshua Kushner, brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, as well as an arm of JP Morgan Chase, the US bank that attempted to finance the failed breakaway European Super League.
UEFA, European football’s governing body, which has been critical of Infantino, was also quick to respond to the article.
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
FIFA said in its statement that it “would retain sole control of FFE and exclusive authority over football governance, competitions, match calendar, and all regulatory and sporting decisions”.
It said it believed FFE would achieve an “initial equity valuation of $20bn”.
FIFA said each of its 211 member associations (MAs) would be given the chance to take a one-off stake of 20mn dollars in FFE.
That represents only 0.1 percent of the total, but would be a significant sum for the leaderships of FIFA’s poorer or smaller members.
“Together with other existing FIFA programmes, these investments could bring FIFA’s total planned development funding to more than $10 billion over the next four years,” FIFA said.
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