{"id":832934,"date":"2026-07-29T04:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/832934\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T04:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:47:17","slug":"fifa-proposes-plan-to-sell-stakes-in-the-world-cup-angering-uefa-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/832934\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA proposes plan to sell stakes in the World Cup, angering UEFA | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football\u2019s world governing body announces plans to sell stakes of up to 20 percent in the World Cup and other events.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Published On 29 Jul 202629 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

FIFA has proposed a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other events to private investors, provoking a furious response from the European football governing body, UEFA.<\/p>\n

Under the plans announced by FIFA on Tuesday, a $20bn subsidiary would be created to run the World Cup and other events.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

World football\u2019s governing body said it would retain a majority share in the new FIFA Forward Enterprise, offering minority stakes to external investment to raise up to $4.2bn.<\/p>\n

The plan still needs to be voted on by FIFA\u2019s 211 member nations.<\/p>\n

If successful, the proposed investor group is expected to be led by a vehicle founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, FIFA said.<\/p>\n

UEFA said the proposal \u201ccrosses a line that football\u2019s governing institutions should never cross\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reinvested in the game<\/p>\n

FIFA has just held a 48-team World Cup<\/a> across the United States, Canada and Mexico \u2013 the biggest in the tournament\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

It is one of the world\u2019s wealthiest sporting organisations<\/a>, generating billions of dollars, largely from broadcasting rights, sponsorship and other commercial deals linked to the World Cup.<\/p>\n

But it says this proposal can increase funds to widen access to the sport and strengthen global participation, with all net benefits to be reinvested in football.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is the world\u2019s most popular sport,\u201d FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cParts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value \u2013 and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to make sure the rest of football grows with it: FIFA exists to support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA said that in addition to retaining sole control of the subsidiary, it would retain authority over football governance, competitions, match calendars and regulatory and sporting decisions.<\/p>\n

\u2018World Cup is not a product\u2019<\/p>\n

The proposal deepens the divide between FIFA and UEFA, with Europe positioning itself as football\u2019s custodian, while FIFA, a not-for-profit organisation, says it is focused on broadening access with financial largesse.<\/p>\n

In a statement, UEFA said it takes the new proposals \u201cextremely seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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

The United Kingdom\u2019s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, joined critics, saying on social media that the sport does not belong to investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone\u2019s to sell,\u201d Burnham wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cDress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football\u2019s world governing body announces plans to sell stakes of up to 20 percent in the World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5684,15697,5806,6109,3456,527,10853,43,799,1259,44,457,41,39,42,40,127,772],"class_list":["post-832934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-africa","tag-antarctica","tag-asia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-greenland","tag-headlines","tag-latin-america","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}