Former FIFA president Joseph Blatter said FIFA is not a private equity fund and that money matters but should never become everything.
Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 to 2016 before Gianni Infantino, made the comments on social media. He said FIFA is an association with statutes, regulations and a fiduciary responsibility to protect the global game, and that selling football's crown jewels to private investors also sells part of the game, especially its soul.
Reactions against FFE
Blatter joined others opposing FIFA's plan to create a subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE, to commercialize its events. FIFA has since dropped the idea.
Blatter left the FIFA presidency after being re-elected to a fifth term amid corruption cases within the organization. His departure led to elections in February 2016, following a period of interim leadership by Cameroon's Issa Hayatou. Infantino won those elections with 115 votes, ahead of Bahraini sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, current president of the Asian Football Confederation, who received 88, and Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who received 4.
