FIFA's plan to sell a piece of its business empire to outside investors has collapsed following an open revolt by soccer officials worldwide and a major rift among top FIFA executives, the New York Post reported on Friday.
The deal, in which FIFA had aimed to raise up to $4.2 billion by selling a roughly 20 per cent stake in the group, valuing the new arm at $20 billion, is no longer active, according to a report citing four sources familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. FIFA, football’s global governing body, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The proposal, announced on Tuesday, faced immediate opposition from European football’s governing body UEFA, which accused FIFA of putting the sport’s “soul” up for sale.
On Thursday, UEFA’s 55 member nations voted unanimously to boycott all FIFA tournaments, less than two weeks after Spain’s men’s team were crowned world champions.
Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, resigned on Friday in protest against the plan. FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour also criticised the proposal, saying staff were “deceived” and describing it as a “project of one person.”
FIFA had proposed creating a $20 billion subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to manage the World Cup and other events. The organisation said “nobody is selling football” and argued that the proposal had been misrepresented in the media.
Thrive Eternal, a fund run by Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, was expected to lead the proposed investor group, FIFA said. Joshua Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Infantino said in a letter to FIFA member associations that each federation would receive $40 million if they approved the proposal by 19 September.
FIFA said the plan would not move forward without support from a majority of its member associations.
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