- 2 months ago
Few stories in modern sport have sparked as much controversy as the proposal often described as the $20 billion plan that turned much of Europe against FIFA.
At its core, the dispute was not only about money, but also about power, governance, tradition, and the future of global football.
What appeared at first to be an ambitious commercial vision quickly became a flashpoint between FIFA and Europe’s football institutions, clubs, leagues, and fans.
At its core, the dispute was not only about money, but also about power, governance, tradition, and the future of global football.
What appeared at first to be an ambitious commercial vision quickly became a flashpoint between FIFA and Europe’s football institutions, clubs, leagues, and fans.
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00:00Gianni Infantino wants to sell a piece of the World Cup, not tickets, not broadcast
00:05rights in the way you're used to hearing about them, and actual ownership stake in
00:09a new company that would run FIFA's competitions, backed by investors tied to the Trump family.
00:15Within hours of the announcement, UEFA came out swinging, and the entire continent of
00:20European football started talking about walking away from the World Cup itself.
00:25So this is the story of how a plan to raise $20 billion turned into the biggest fight
00:30FIFA has picked with Europe in years. It happened fast, the plan dropped on a Tuesday,
00:36and by the same afternoon, Europe's football establishment was already in open war with
00:41FIFA. Here's what actually got announced, FIFA confirmed it wants to create a new commercial
00:46subsidiary, called FIFA Forward Enterprise, FFE for short. The ambitious plan would see FIFA
00:52establish FIFA Forward Enterprise, a wholly owned subsidiary, consolidating the organization's
00:58commercial and event operations. FIFA said it would retain sole control, as well as exclusive
01:03authority over football governance, competitions, the match calendar, and all regulatory and sporting
01:09decisions. So on paper, FIFA keeps the steering wheel, but it wants to hand out shares in the car.
01:15The number that got everyone's attention was the valuation. FIFA said in a statement that FFE would
01:21raise up to $4.2 billion later this year to help fund development programs based on an initial equity
01:28valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority,
01:34non-controlling interests. Translate that, FIFA is putting a $20 billion price tag on this new entity,
01:41and selling off a slice of it, reportedly around 20%, to whoever's willing to pay. And that's where the
01:47Kushner name enters the story. FIFA is working with JP Morgan, while investors would include Thrive Eternal
01:53launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of US President Trump.
02:00Thrive Eternal isn't new to sports money. The fund has support from Joshua Kushner's investment fund,
02:06and Kushner is already involved in sports as a minority owner of the Miami Heat and the San Francisco
02:12Giants. Now he's positioned to lead the group, buying into the World Cup itself. Infantino framed
02:18the whole thing as generosity. This is about the democratization of football worldwide,
02:23Infantino said in a FIFA statement. The pitch, national federations that currently get a fixed
02:29development grant would see that number jump. Instead of the currently promised $8 million each in
02:35development, funds, through the 2027-30 World Cup commercial cycle. It would be $20 million,
02:41then $22 million, and $24 million in the following cycles. Every one of FIFA's 211 member federations,
02:49stood to get a bump, sold as a reward for getting on board. UEFA wasn't interested in the framing,
02:55for even a single news cycle. The response came out almost immediately, and it wasn't diplomatic.
03:01It is not FIFA's to sell, UEFA said in a statement. None of us are the owners of football. That's
03:07not
03:07a press release hedging its bets, that's a direct accusation. That Infantino tried to sell something,
03:13that was never his in the first place. UEFA went further, calling out the lack of transparency around,
03:19who would actually benefit. This crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross,
03:25UEFA said in a statement. UEFA takes it extremely seriously,
03:29So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder. Lags, clubs, players,
03:35supporters, governments, and everyone who cares about the future of the game. The soul and governance
03:40of football are not assets to trade, especially with zero transparency, as to who gains financially.
03:46None of us are the owners of football. Within a day, this stopped being a war of words. UEFA is
03:52stepping up its opposition to FIFA's proposal, to raise $20 billion, through the sale of minority
03:58equity. In a newly created commercial entity, with sources indicating European football's governing
04:04body, is preparing an emergency meeting. Of its 55 member associations, to discuss possible action,
04:11including a boycott of future FIFA World Cups. 55 countries, all being asked, in real time,
04:17whether they're willing to sit out the biggest tournament on the planet. That's the shape of the
04:22fight. FIFA wants to sell a piece of itself for $20 billion. Europe is threatening to walk out the
04:28door entirely. Now let's get into how we got here, who's actually involved, and why this specific plan
04:34lit the fuse. To understand why this blew up so fast, you have to look at the money on the
04:39table,
04:39and exactly who's positioned to collect it. FIFA isn't hurting for cash right now. FIFA banked record
04:45World Cup income of about $12 billion from the 2026 tournament, which had unprecedented high prices
04:52for tickets and hospitality across the US, Canada and Mexico. Some reporting puts the figure even
04:58higher. Forbes cited a $15 billion revenue number tied to the same tournament. Either way, this was
05:05the richest World Cup in the organization's history. So the question everyone in European football is
05:10asking is simple. If the last World Cup made that much money, why does FIFA need outside investors
05:17at all? Part of the answer is what comes next on the calendar. It already was unclear how that money
05:22could be matched from Spain, Portugal and Morocco, co-hosting the 2030 men's edition. Three countries
05:28splitting hosting duties, spread across two continents technically since Morocco's involved, means none of
05:34the single market advantages the US, Canada and Mexico had this time around. FIFA may be looking at
05:40a real revenue cliff in four years and trying to build a cushion now. But the structure of the
05:46deal is what actually raised eyebrows. This isn't FIFA taking out a loan or signing a bigger broadcast
05:52contract. It's FIFA selling equity ownership in a newly built entity that would run its crown jewel
05:58events. According to the Financial Times, FIFA is planning to raise an estimated $4.2 billion in
06:052026. By selling a reported 20% minority stake in a new subsidiary, at an equity valuation of $20
06:12billion. And leading that investor group is a name that comes preloaded with political weight.
06:18FIFA said Thrive Eternal, a company set up in April this year, which has links to the extended family of
06:24US President Donald Trump, would lead the proposed investor group for FFE. Joshua Kushner is Jard
06:31Kushner's brother, Jard being married to Ivanka Trump. Making this a Trump-adjacent fund, buying
06:37into world football's flagship competition. At the exact moment Trump's presidency has been
06:42intertwined with the sport's biggest stage. The 2026 final was played on US soil with Trump front and
06:49center for the trophy presentation. Now his extended family's money is reportedly angling for a piece of
06:55what comes after. There's also a personal angle that made this land even harder. Reports out of London
07:01indicated Infantino himself might not just be brokering this deal. He could end up running the
07:07resulting company. FIFA President Gianni Infantino could become the commissioner or chief executive of
07:13the new vehicle from 2031. According to the Times, so the man announcing the sale might also be the man
07:20who takes the job title at the end of it. That detail alone turned a lot of skeptics into outright
07:25critics. It started looking less like a football development fund and more like a corporate
07:30restructuring. With Infantino positioning himself at the top of a private company instead of a
07:36non-profit federation. The AOL report drew out just how unusual that would be for the sport.
07:42Infantino could potentially serve as the commissioner of the new company. Which would be unprecedented for
07:48European soccer and more in line with major American sports models. Featured in the NBA,
07:54WNBA, NFL and more. With commissioners like Gary Bettman, Adam Silver, Rob Manfred and Roger Goodell
08:01all making over 10 million dollars a year. With Goodell's salary reportedly close to 70 million dollars.
08:07Suddenly this wasn't just about a stake sale. It was about whether world football was quietly being
08:13rebuilt on an American commissioner model. With a nine-figure salary sitting at the top of it.
08:19FIFA, for its part, insists none of the governance stuff changes. FIFA would retain sole control of
08:24FFE and exclusive authority over football governance, competitions, match calendar, and all regulatory and
08:31sporting decisions. The soccer body said, the pitch is that this is purely commercial. Investors get a
08:37slice of the revenue upside, FIFA keeps every lever of power. But critics were quick to point out that
08:43money changes behavior, even when it doesn't change the org chart. Investors putting billions in expect
08:49growth, and growth in a sports property, usually means more games, more windows, more monetization.
08:55Whether or not the contract says FIFA, controls the calendar. It's also worth remembering this isn't,
09:01Infantino's first swing at something like this. The project announced Tuesday,
09:05is the second time in Infantino's increasingly controversial 11-year presidency. He has tried
09:12to push through a multi-billion dollar deal with private backers. In 2018, Infantino proposed a
09:18secretive 25 billion dollars offer over 12 years with SoftBank of Japan, to create new global competitions,
09:25including an expanded men's club World Cup, seemingly backed by Saudi Arabian money. That one collapsed
09:31under pressure too. Seferin was blunt about his role in killing it.
09:35Telling allies at the time he had been blocking FIFA from making a 25 billion dollars deal,
09:40to create and revamp international competitions. So when this new 20 billion dollars plan surfaced,
09:46a lot of people in European football didn't see something new, they saw a rewrite. If the money
09:51explains the motive, UEFA's reaction explains the stakes. This wasn't a mild statement of concern,
09:58it was as close to a declaration of hostilities, as a football confederation gets. The relationship
10:03between Infantino and UEFA President Alexander Seferin was already strained heading into this.
10:10Relations between UEFA and FIFA were already strained before the announcement. UEFA President
10:16Alexander Seferin did not attend the 2026 World Cup final amid disagreements over FIFA's governance
10:22decisions. Forbes tied part of that friction to a specific flashpoint during the tournament. Tensions
10:28between UEFA and FIFA have been high in recent weeks, with Seferin having boycotted the World
10:34Cup final over multiple issues, including FIFA's decision to suspend US striker Folarin Balogun's
10:40red card earlier in the tournament. So the two organizations weren't starting from a place of trust.
10:46They were starting from a place of suspicion, and this announcement poured gasoline on it.
10:51The English FA's response added another layer. The English Football Association
10:56was reportedly unaware of the proposal before details emerged publicly,
11:00despite the scale of the planned restructuring. Think about that, one of the most powerful,
11:05wealthiest federations on the planet, found out about a $20 billion restructuring of world football,
11:11the same way the public did, through news reports, not a phone call from Zurich.
11:16Once the story broke, UEFA moved from statements to logistics. UEFA set an emergency meeting this week,
11:22sources told ESPN, to discuss plans, including a potential World Cup boycott. With a meeting of
11:28the 55 European member associations, planned to outline unity and opposition to the Infantino plan.
11:3555 countries called into a room, virtually, specifically to talk about not showing up to
11:41the world's biggest sporting event. And this isn't an empty threat with no precedent. UEFA has done this
11:46before and won. FIFA abandoned a proposal in 2021 to stage the World Cup every two years because of
11:53the threat of a UEFA boycott. And the same deterrent is expected to be used to fight FIFA's latest plan.
11:59That biennial World Cup fight is worth remembering here because it shows exactly how this kind of
12:05standoff tends to resolve. Back then UEFA didn't just say no, it built a financial case. A report
12:11commissioned by UEFA estimated a shortfall of between 2.5 euros and 3 billion euros over four
12:17years. For European federations, if FIFA adopted its plan to switch to a biennial World Cup.
12:23Seferin's language at the time was just as sharp as it is now. He warned the change would lead to
12:29more
12:29randomization, less legitimacy, and it will unfortunately dilute the World Cup itself. FIFA
12:35had claimed the switch would generate an extra $4.4 billion in revenues for the world body. And
12:41even claimed majority backing among its member federations. None of that mattered once UEFA drew
12:47its line, the plan died. This time the statement from UEFA hit every stakeholder group by name.
12:53Almost like a call to arms. UEFA pushed back against FIFA's claim that it can reshape the commercial
12:59future of the World Cup. While still maintaining control over the tournament, saying.
13:04This crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes it
13:10extremely seriously. So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder.
13:16Leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments, and everyone who cares about the future of the game.
13:22That's not a federation protecting its turf quietly. That's a federation trying to build a coalition
13:28in real time. Leagues, clubs, players, fans, and governments, all named directly,
13:33all invited into the fight. And it worked, at least in terms of pulling in outside voices fast.
13:39Even a former FIFA president weighed in against his successor. Sepp Blatter, who ran FIFA for close
13:45to two decades before Infantino, came out swinging at the plan, according to reporting that framed it
13:51as blatter slamming Infantino. For selling FIFA out to investors close to Trump's inner circle,
13:571,811,233. When the man who used to run the organization, is publicly criticizing the man who
14:05runs it now. That's not a normal Tuesday in football politics. By the second day, this stopped being a
14:11football story, contained inside football institutions. Politicians started weighing in. And one voice in
14:18particular went viral, in a way that turned this into a public referendum. Not just a boardroom dispute.
14:24UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham posted his reaction directly, framing the entire fight in populist
14:30terms that a lot of fans had been feeling, but hadn't heard from an actual head of government.
14:36He opened plainly, let me say this very directly. Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to
14:43the people who fill the stands, and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.
14:48He didn't stop there. Burnham went after the framing of the deal itself, rejecting the idea that this was
14:55some clean commercial transaction. He added the World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest
15:01competition in world sport. And it was never anyone's to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you
15:08have sold a piece of it, you have sold out. That last line, you have sold out, is the part
15:13that spread.
15:14It's blunt, it's quotable, and it turned a finance story into a culture war-flavoured referendum.
15:19On who football actually belongs to. The reaction to Burnham's post, underlined,
15:24how much this resonated outside football's usual power circles. With 3.6 million views and 47,000 likes and
15:32counting. Burnham's comments earned huge support from football fans in the UK. A sitting prime minister's
15:38tweet about a FIFA subsidiary structure isn't the kind of thing that usually racks up millions of
15:44views. This one did because it tapped directly into a decade of accumulated resentment toward FIFA's
15:50spending decisions. Its ticket pricing and its increasingly commercial tone under Infantino.
15:55Burnham went back to social media again to hammer the same point from a different angle.
16:00Reframing the development funding, pitch that FIFA had been using to sell the deal to smaller
16:06federations. Burnham joined criticism of the proposal, writing on X that the World Cup is not a product.
16:12Saying let me say this very directly. Football does not belong to investors. Football belongs to the fans.
16:20It always has and it always will. Notice the repetition there, belongs to the fans,
16:25not belongs to the investors. That's the entire fight compressed into one sentence. And it's the
16:31sentence that traveled furthest. What made Burnham's intervention different from UEFA's statement is that
16:37it wasn't coming from an institution with a financial stake in the outcome. UEFA obviously has its own
16:44commercial competitions to protect. And critics could point to self-interest in its opposition. A head of
16:50government weighing in with no direct financial exposure to FIFA's revenue split. Gave the backlash
16:56a layer of credibility that a federation's press release couldn't manufacture on its own. And the
17:01scale of who might actually sit out a World Cup started getting real attention. Once politicians got
17:07involved, the prospect of the likes of world champions Spain, England, France, Germany, Italy and
17:13Portugal. Sitting out the 2030 World Cup in protest became a real possibility being discussed openly.
17:20Read that list again. That's not a handful of minor federations making noise. That's the core of
17:26European football, the countries that have won or contested the last several major tournaments,
17:32being floated as potential no-shows at the very next one. Hosted partly on their own continent,
17:38FIFA tried to counter the growing public pressure with bigger numbers. Upping the promise
17:43development money in its messaging. FIFA added that the creation of FFE would lead to a
17:48significant increase in football development funding to national associations and bring its
17:54spending on development to more than US$10 billion over the next four years. But by that point,
18:00the conversation had moved past dollar figures. Once a prime minister frames it as fans versus investors,
18:07throwing more money at federations doesn't answer the actual objection. It just confirms in the
18:12eyes of critics that this was always a financial transaction dressed up as generosity. So where
18:18does this actually land? The emergency meeting UEFA called wasn't just theater. It was the mechanism
18:24through which 55 federations decide whether to escalate from statements to action. UEFA's 55 member
18:31nations were set to hold an emergency virtual meeting to respond to Infantino's proposal. According to Sky News,
18:38whatever comes out of that room determines whether this becomes the biggest standoff in FIFA's recent
18:44history. Or another loud news cycle that quietly resolves once the numbers get adjusted. FIFA's own
18:50math on what member federations stand to gain kept shifting throughout the week. Which tells you the
18:56organization was negotiating in public in real time. One version of the pitch put the ceiling at up to
19:0224 million dollars per member association. By 2035 if the deal is approved. A number clearly designed,
19:09as one outlet put it, to win over potential holdouts. Before the emergency meeting even happened.
19:16That's not a coincidence. That's FIFA sweetening the offer the moment it sensed Europe wasn't going to
19:22fold quietly. The precedent from four years ago is the thing hanging over all of it. When UEFA fought the
19:28biennial world cup, it won by combining a boycott threat. With hard financial modeling that made FIFA's
19:34own numbers look optimistic by comparison. This time UEFA's spokespeople sound just as confident that
19:41the same playbook works again. UEFA is confident that its sporting weight will prove decisive in stopping
19:47the project. Repeating the strategy with which it already halted the biennial world cup plan. Confidence
19:53isn't the same as certainty. But it tells you which side believes history is on it. What's different
19:58this time is the size of the coalition. That's formed around the opposition in such a short window.
20:04It's not just UEFA's press office anymore. It's a former FIFA president. It's the English FA blindsided
20:11by its own governing body. It's a sitting prime minister with millions of views on a single post. And
20:17its fans across multiple countries treating, sold out. As the defining phrase of the entire saga.
20:24FIFA built this plan around 211 federations, voting individually. Betting that development money
20:30would peel off enough smaller nations to isolate Europe. Instead in the space of days, Europe turned
20:36outward and pulled in voices FIFA didn't control at all. Infantino's own words are still the ones doing
20:42the most work against him. He called the plan, the democratization of football worldwide. But the
20:48response from the people, the plan was supposedly for, fans standing on touchlines, federations left
20:54out of the loop. A former president watching his successor, try the same play he once beat.
20:59Reads like the opposite of democratization. It reads like a decision made at the top, announced downward,
21:06and then met by exactly the kind of continent-wide resistance that killed the last version of a plan like
21:11this.
21:12Nobody's walked out of a World Cup yet. No federation has formally confirmed a boycott. But the machinery
21:19for that outcome is now sitting in front of 55 countries. Built by FIFA's own announcement. And
21:25the next move belongs to the emergency meeting UEFA, already scheduled. Whatever happens in that room
21:31decides whether the $20 billion plan becomes the deal that reshaped football's finances. Or the second
21:37Infantino mega deal, in under a decade that Europe simply refused to let stand.
21:43Sources FIFA plan for Kushner-backed $20 billion operation to run World Cup meets Fury from Europe's
21:49UEFA, France 24. NBC News
21:52FIFA $20 billion commercial subsidiary plan draws fierce criticism from UEFA. Yahoo Sports FIFA plan for
21:59Kushner-backed $20 billion operation meets Fury. The Globe and Mail FIFA plan for Kushner-backed $20 billion
22:07operation. ESPN UEFA to discuss World Cup boycott over FIFA private investment plan. Yahoo Sports is a
22:15World Cup boycott brewing, Europe against Infantino's plans. Forbes FIFA may sell World Cup
22:21investment stakes. IB Times UK, UEFA warns FIFA is selling the World Cup. AOL UEFA nations discuss
22:28World Cup boycott. Sky Sports UEFA hit out at FIFA and Gianni Infantino. Amid plans to sell minority
22:35stakes linked to competition. GiveMeSport UK PM Andy Burnham slams FIFA's plan. Yahoo News UK,
22:43Burnham says World Cup not a product. Tuco European nations threaten to boycott World Cup.
22:49Melee Mail, UEFA estimates €3 billion shortfall, with Biennial World Cup. ESPN, FIFA Biennial World Cup,
22:57Proposal Majority Backing. Pressreader Seferin re-elected President of UEFA, 282,398,400,666,750.