Less than a month after celebrating the most commercially successful World Cup in history, the boss of FIFA is in the hot seat.
Gianni Infantino, president of the global soccer governing body, is under fire from in and outside FIFA over his controversial plan to sell off a stake in the World Cup to private investors.
Soccer governing bodies in Europe and the Americas have come out against the proposal, which would see FIFA transfer its commercial operations to a new entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), and sell 20 percent of the company to Thrive Capital, an invest group run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
European soccer body UEFA on Thursday said it would boycott FIFA events, including the World Cup, if the plan went through. Concacaf, the association which represents national soccer associations across the Americans and the Caribbean, including the United States, has also voted to reject the deal.
On Friday, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), without directly rejecting the FIFA proposal, issued a statement of solidarity with UEFA and Concacaf. The plan has provoked “unprecedented divisions” between FIFA members, the AFC said in a statement, and “cannot realistically” achieve “the necessary broad consensus and unity” needed to go forward.
The united opposition should mean the end of Infantino’s deal. Together, the UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC account for 143 of FIFA’s 211 members, more than enough to sink the proposal.
For the first time since he was elected president of FIFA in 2016, Infantino himself looks under threat.
In its statement, the Asian Football Confederation called on FIFA to undertake “an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework.”
On Friday Carlos Cordeiro, one of Infantino’s senior advisors, resigned in protest over the controversial plan, calling it “a bad deal” that would “mortgage football’s future.”
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a passionate soccer fan, has called out Infantino directly, saying Friday he was “the wrong man” to lead FIFA.
Before this scandal, Infantino looked certain to win a fourth term as FIFA president. He was running unopposed in elections, to be held in March, 2027. Now, North American soccer chief Victor Montagliani is looking to challenge him, according to media reports.
