European football associations have raised the prospect of boycotting the World Cup after FIFA confirmed plans to sell minority stakes in its commercial operations to private investors, among them a fund run by the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Football’s world governing body said on July 28 it would create a subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to bring together broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing rights with the running of its tournaments.
It said it would seek to raise up to $4.2 billion (€3.7 billion) by selling more than 20 per cent of the new company, based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion (€17.5 billion).
The plan was first reported by The Times and confirmed by FIFA only after European officials went public with their concerns.
FIFA said JP Morgan was acting as financial adviser, with Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner, expected to lead the investor group. Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
European football’s governing body UEFA, which groups 55 of FIFA’s 211 member associations, said the proposals crossed a line that football institutions should never cross and that the game was “not FIFA’s to sell”.
UEFA nations are expected to meet virtually this week, with a willingness to threaten a boycott should FIFA President Gianni Infantino press ahead, according to Sky Sports News.
Infantino framed the restructuring as a way of channelling more money to national federations, saying it was “about the democratisation of football worldwide”.
Under the proposal, each member association would have access to $20 million (€17.5 million) in development funding for the 2027-30 cycle, against the $8 million (€7 million) currently promised.
FIFA said it would retain sole control of FFE and exclusive authority over governance, competitions, the match calendar and all regulatory and sporting decisions.
The Swiss-based body is a not-for-profit association of its member federations, and any restructuring would require their approval, with a vote expected at the FIFA Congress in March.
Relations between the two organisations were already strained. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin stayed away from the World Cup final in New Jersey on July 19 in protest at a series of FIFA governance decisions.
England’s Football Association was unaware of the plan before the announcement, according to the Press Association, and FIFA did not raise it at meetings with associations in New York on the eve of the final.
FIFA dropped an earlier proposal to stage the World Cup every two years in 2021 after Čeferin warned that European nations would not take part.
