{"id":837196,"date":"2026-07-31T02:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/837196\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T02:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:04:13","slug":"concacaf-rejects-fifa-private-investment-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/837196\/","title":{"rendered":"CONCACAF Rejects FIFA Private Investment Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONCACAF, the federation in charge of North American soccer, rejected on Thursday FIFA President Gianni Infantino\u2019s announced plans<\/a> to allow private investors to buy stakes in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

The organization \u2014 which represents 41 member associations mainly in North America, Central America and the Caribbean \u2014 said it questioned the need for private equity investment following \u201cthe most profitable FIFA World Cup in history\u201d in member nations Canada, Mexico and the United States this year.<\/p>\n

CONCACAF said it\u2019s tasking its council members with ensuring these plans follow \u201cproper governance processes.\u201d The organization said on Wednesday that it had only been made aware of the plans through media reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory has shown FIFA and the football family what happens when the custodians of the game lose sight of these values,\u201d CONCACAF said in a statement<\/a>, referencing FIFA\u2019s guiding principles of service and transparent governance. \u201cThrough these actions, Concacaf reaffirms that football\u2019s future \u2014 and its greatest asset \u2014 must remain in the hands of our football family,\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA said it would open up the tournament to private investment on Wednesday, after Infantino reportedly ran the plans by figures within President Donald Trump\u2019s administration. Joshua Kushner \u2014 the brother of Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner \u2014 has been considered a potential key investor in the proposal, and other figures within Trump\u2019s orbit have been involved, sources told The Times of London<\/a>, which first reported on the plans.<\/p>\n

FIFA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The governing body of European soccer \u201cunanimously and unequivocally\u201d voted to boycott FIFA\u2019s international competitions on Thursday, saying<\/a> the World Cup \u201ccannot be treated as an investment product.\u201d<\/p>\n

UEFA said none of its teams will participate in any future matches unless they have assurances that Infantino will block FIFA competitions from future private ownership. Unlike other global associations, the European governing body has incredible leverage: It comprises a majority of top-seeded teams across the most recent men\u2019s and women\u2019s world cups, and the contest cannot realistically proceed without European participation, especially as the 2030 men\u2019s tournament is scheduled to take place across stadiums in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.<\/p>\n

UEFA and CONCACAF\u2019s firm rejections of Infantino\u2019s plans prove difficult for him to work around, as their combined 96 members make up just under half of the total national associations represented by FIFA.<\/p>\n

FIFA hopes to raise up to $4.2 billion in private-sector capital for a new organization that would oversee key business aspects of major soccer tournaments like the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Infantino\u2019s proposal would open up a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, in which select third-party companies could invest in competitions. FIFA, which overwhelmingly controls the global soccer network, has approached Joshua Kushner\u2019s Thrive Capital and is partnering with J.P. Morgan.<\/p>\n

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee blasted<\/a> reports of discussions between FIFA and Trump\u2019s administration on Tuesday, when the news broke about Infantino\u2019s plans to sell shares.<\/p>\n

\u201cInfantino is trying to bribe every member country in FIFA with a $40 million payoff to sign off on his scheme to turn the World Cup into a get-rich-quick extraction industry for oligarchs and billionaires,\u201d the Judiciary Democrats\u2019 account said on X<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s time for everyone who loves soccer to oppose this sinister Trump-Kushner takeover of the world\u2019s most beautiful and democratic game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump and Infantino have enjoyed a close relationship, with the FIFA president making frequent visits to the White House and Mar-a-Lago. Trump presented<\/a> the World Cup Trophy on July 19 in New Jersey, a few months after Infantino awarded him the newly created \u201cFIFA Peace Prize\u201d in December.<\/p>\n

Infantino set a Sept. 19 deadline for the 211 federations to approve the plans. The controversial FIFA initiative would give each of them access to $40 million in funding, ESPN<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Other multinational soccer governing bodies are still reviewing Infantino\u2019s plans. The Confederation of African Football is set<\/a> to hold a meeting of its executive committee next week to evaluate FIFA\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

This story was updated to reflect CONCACAF\u2019s new statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CONCACAF, the federation in charge of North American soccer, rejected on Thursday FIFA President Gianni Infantino\u2019s announced plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-837196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837196","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=837196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}