The United States and Canada have joined a widening global revolt against FIFA president Gianni Infantino's plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors, leaving him facing the most serious challenge of his 11-year presidency.
Concacaf, the governing body for soccer in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, published a statement saying it had learned of the proposal only through media reports and expressed alarm at how the plan had been developed. "We are deeply concerned by the lack of due process," the confederation said. "We share the disappointment of many within our region and the game that this level of detail has been designed and shared publicly before any discussion with the relevant governance bodies and stakeholders has taken place."
The statement came hours after UEFA held an urgent online meeting of its 55 member nations and issued a direct threat to pull out of FIFA competitions entirely. "UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions" for as long as the proposals remain in play, the European body said, unless the plan is "abandoned in its entirety" and binding assurances are given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.
"Some things are simply too important to sell," UEFA said. "The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will."
What the plan involves
Infantino's scheme, revealed on Tuesday, would spin off FIFA's commercial operations into a new $20 billion subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise, with private investors owning a 20 percent share. The core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner.
Each of FIFA's 211 member associations was offered $20 million if they approve the structure by mid-September, double the $10 million in basic funding already promised for the next four years. Infantino projected that FIFA funding through 2038 would reach $86 million per member, compared with roughly $36 million under current arrangements.
In a video message on Wednesday, Infantino described the spinoff as "an offer, not an obligation." He has presented the private equity deal as a way to "turbocharge" funding for soccer development worldwide, arguing that a majority of FIFA's 211 members depend heavily on its financial support.
Asia and Europe aligned against the plan
UEFA's threat was not the only blow to Infantino on Thursday. The Asian Football Confederation, traditionally a base of support for the FIFA president, also voiced alarm. AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, who lost the 2016 FIFA presidential election to Infantino, wrote to the confederation's 46 member associations warning that "FIFA's unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football." Sheikh Salman added that "such an initiative will not succeed without the support of all the confederations, which is not the case now."
The AFC raised specific concern about how the plan could affect the sustainability of confederation and domestic competitions, as well as the commercial landscape for Asian football.
Infantino's political position weakens
The backlash now threatens what had appeared to be a straightforward path to re-election for Infantino. Just 11 days ago, after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, he seemed set to run unopposed for a fourth and final term through 2031. FIFA has set a November 18 deadline for presidential candidates to declare ahead of a vote of the 211 members scheduled for next March in Rabat, Morocco.
Officials from about 40 UEFA member associations spoke at Thursday's emergency meeting, with frustration expressed that FIFA has not drawn on its multi-billion reserves to fund additional development programmes instead. The next scheduled FIFA tournament is the Women's Under-20 World Cup in Poland, which begins on September 5.
