FIFA scraps World Cup investment plan after storm of protest


FIFA scraps World Cup investment plan after storm of protest

FIFA has ditched its controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other flagship tournaments to private investors.

President Gianni Infantino confirmed the proposal was dead in the water after it triggered a wave of opposition across the football world. The idea was to set up a new commercial company worth around $20 billion and sell off a minority stake, raising roughly $4.2 billion in the process.

The backlash was fierce from the moment the plan came to light. UEFA threatened to boycott every FIFA competition, World Cups included, if it went ahead. Football's governing bodies in North and Central America (Concacaf) and Asia (the AFC) also came out against it. Even inside FIFA, senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro quit in protest, branding the scheme a bad deal for the game.

Plenty of people felt it risked "selling the soul" of football, handing private money influence over the sport's biggest showpieces. Infantino himself admitted the project had caused rifts that no longer served its original purpose.

"Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve," he said in a statement announcing the U-turn. "As a result, this proposal will not proceed."

The climbdown draws a line under a short but bruising row that piled pressure on the FIFA president, coming just weeks after the curtain came down on the expanded 2026 World Cup.

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