{"id":829737,"date":"2026-07-28T20:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829737\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T20:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T20:06:13","slug":"fifa-accused-of-selling-the-soul-of-football-over-20bn-world-cup-commercial-rights-sale-plan-fifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829737\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa accused of \u2018selling the soul of football\u2019 over $20bn World Cup commercial rights sale plan | Fifa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifa has announced plans to sell the commercial rights to its tournaments, including the World Cup<\/a>, to private investors in a controversial move that triggered an immediate backlash from Uefa, leading European clubs and politicians. <\/p>\n

Uefa released a strongly worded statement accusing Fifa of \u201cattempting to sell the soul of football\u201d and is believed to be considering its legal position, while sources at numerous elite clubs were highly critical of the proposal in private. Andy Burnham, the UK\u2019s new prime minister, condemned the move.<\/p>\n

Fifa has confirmed it is working with the US bank JP Morgan on setting up a new entity \u2013 to be called Fifa<\/a> Forward Enterprise (FFE) \u2013 that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling a significant stake in the commercial rights of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s World Cups, and the Club World Cup to investors, with promises of an increase in distribution of \u201cover $10bn\u201d (\u00a37.5bn) then being redistributed back to Fifa\u2019s 211 member associations.<\/p>\n

Thrive Capital, an investment company founded by Joshua Kushner \u2013 the brother of Donald Trump\u2019s son\u2011in-law Jared Kushner \u2013 is leading the search for investors.<\/p>\n

Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, said the plan would see \u201cthe commercial side of the game [operating] as a focused, dedicated business, with its value shared more and better all around the world\u201d. The plans are subject to approval by a \u201cmajority\u201d of member associations, but Fifa declined to comment when asked when a vote will take place.<\/p>\n

Numerous sources with knowledge of Fifa\u2019s proposals said it is valuing the new commercial venture at about $20bn, with Infantino looking to cash in on football\u2019s growing global popularity after this summer\u2019s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. The Guardian revealed this month<\/a> that Fifa\u2019s revenues for the tournament would exceed $15bn, a significant increase on the projected figure of $13bn<\/a>, with such growth appearing to embolden Infantino to seek further riches.<\/p>\n

The revelation of the plans provoked an immediate backlash from Uefa, with the European governing body accusing Fifa of attempting to sell the soul of football. Relations between the two most powerful organisations in the sport are at an all-time low, with Uefa claiming Fifa undermined the integrity of the World Cup this month when it intervened to overturn the USA striker Falorin Balogun\u2019s red card after Trump called and asked Infantino to do so<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis crosses a line that football\u2019s governing institutions should never cross,\u201d Uefa said of the FFE plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cUefa takes it extremely seriously. So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game. The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade \u2013 especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not Fifa\u2019s to sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gianni Infantino is looking to cash in on football\u2019s growing global popularity following this summer\u2019s World Cup. Photograph: Dado Ruvi\u0107\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Burnham, an Everton fan, posted on social media: \u201cFootball does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine. The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone\u2019s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Infantino had succeeded in keeping Fifa\u2019s plans under wraps until reports of the proposal first emerged in the Times and Financial Times. Fifa council members are understood to have been surprised by the announcement, having been sidelined from the decision\u2011making process.<\/p>\n

It is the second occasion that Infantino has attempted to attract private capital to fund Fifa. In 2018, he agreed a deal in principle with the Japanese bank SoftBank to provide $25bn in funding for an expanded Club World Cup and global Nations League, but failed to get sufficient support, largely due to opposition from Europe. Uefa and the clubs are again united against Fifa\u2019s plans, but Infantino may have enough backing from elsewhere to be able to disregard them.<\/p>\n

In its statement, Fifa said the new enterprise would enable it to increase the funding provided to each of the associations from $8m to $20m each year, a huge sum for the majority of their 211 members.<\/p>\n

Fifa insisted it would retain responsibility for football\u2019s governance and the international match calendar, but in reality inviting private investment in its commercial rights would subject the decision makers to significant external pressures. Investors could ultimately be given significant influence over decisions that affect the entire sport, leading to fears they would seek to stage the World Cup more regularly and permit it to be hosted in only the most lucrative markets, such as the US. Fifa said it would \u201ccarefully select long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests in FFE \u2013 all net benefits of FFE will be reinvested back into football worldwide\u201d.<\/p>\n

Infantino is expected to be re\u2011elected unopposed as president next year despite the huge controversy he attracts, but under Fifa statutes must stand down in 2031 after serving three full terms. The Times reported, however, that Infantino has aspirations to serve as chair of the new commercial company, which could earn him tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifa has announced plans to sell the commercial rights to its tournaments, including the World Cup, to private…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-829737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}