The organization abandoned its intentions after UEFA and two other continental confederations threatened a boycott of the competitions.
Gianni Infantino / © Associated Press
The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has canceled its plans to sell stakes in World Cup rights to private investors.
This was announced by the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino.
Earlier, UEFA and its 55 national member associations threatened a boycott of the World Cup if FIFA sold a share of the rights to it to private investors. UEFA was also supported in this by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
“Having carefully listened to all positions, we have concluded that this project has generated disagreements of such a nature that, regardless of the level of support, it no longer aligns with the initial objective for which it was proposed. Our goal has always been, and will always be, to unite and develop football. Therefore, this proposal will not be pursued.
Going forward, I intend in the coming days and weeks to bring all stakeholders together again in a spirit of common interest in our game, in order to continue to foster the development of football worldwide, especially in those countries that need our support the most,” FIFA said in a statement.
As a reminder, FIFA’s plan involved creating a separate company, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which was to manage the World Cup. The deal value for selling World Cup stakes to private investors was estimated at 17 billion euros.
JP Morgan was to be the financial consultant for the project, and the investor group was to be led by Thrive Capital, headed by Joshua Kushner, the brother-in-law of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Earlier, it was reported that FIFA had opened disciplinary proceedings against the Argentine national team following scandals at the 2026 World Cup.
We also reported that FIFA named the best goal of the 2026 World Cup.
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