Infantino says FIFA\u2019s 211 member associations will receive $US40 million ($A58m) under plans to create a commercial subsidiary to run main events, including the World Cup, but has set a September 19 deadline if they want to access an initial $US20m ($A29m).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2256337351-scaled-e1779183954945-1024x576.webp\")
Football Australia chair Anter Isaac and CEO Martin Kugeler. <\/p>\n
He has told the associations that if they reject the plan their earnings will be $US2.7bn ($A3.9bn) \u2013 almost 75 per cent less.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on Thursday, Australia\u2019s governing body was non-committal on the proposal but demanded more information from FIFA before coming to a position. <\/p>\n
\u201cFootball Australia can confirm it has received correspondence from FIFA regarding its latest commercial proposal,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs this is the first time we have been made aware of the initiative, we are now working to understand the proposal in full.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have requested further information from FIFA to properly assess the strategic, commercial, and governance implications of such a significant step.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will only be able to form a position after receiving this information and engaging in further dialogue with our peer Member Associations and our Confederation.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2286563978-1024x684.webp\")
Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n
UEFA, European football\u2019s governing body, said in a statement: \u201cHaving held discussions with many stakeholders across the game, UEFA knows there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA\u2019s scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infantino set out the \u201csingular and unique funding opportunity\u201d in a letter detailing why he wants to create the $US20bn ($A29bn) FIFA subsidiary \u2013 20 per cent owned by private investors \u2013 that would run the soccer body\u2019s competitions and events like World Cups and Club World Cups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my duty and responsibility as FIFA president to present such game-changing opportunities to you, our members,\u201d Infantino wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Concerns about the plan have also been aired by soccer\u2019s ruling bodies in Asia and North America.<\/p>\n
If the FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary is approved by a majority of the 211 members, they also each are promised $US20m ($A29m) in funding from the four-year commercial cycle tied to the men\u2019s 2030 World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That would lead, Infantino wrote, to \u201ca pool of diverse international investors\u201d joining Joshua Kushner\u2019s Thrive as the anchor investor.<\/p>\n
If Infantino\u2019s plan is rejected, those members will get their previously promised $US10m ($A14m) \u00a0over the next four years, his letter stated.<\/p>\n
The cash difference on offer to FIFA members appears to be $US86m ($A124m) over 12 years compared to about $US36m ($A52m) in existing promised funding for rejecting the private equity deal.<\/p>\n
Many national associations are likely to be tempted by the money and FIFA\u2019s one-member, one-vote system means the most powerful soccer nations on the field easily can be outvoted by those who rarely play top-level game.<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: \u201cFootball does not belong to investors. Once you have sold a piece of (the World Cup), you have sold out. Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIFA\u2019s radical plan to sell stakes in their World Cup to private investors has caught national federations by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,13201,596,44067,13202,85,21418],"class_list":["post-832672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-football-australia","tag-gianni-infantino","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832672","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=832672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}