Gianni Infantino, the under-pressure president of FIFA, has decided to drop his contentious proposal to form a $20 billion company, FIFA Forward Enterprise, which was intended to manage the commercial rights to its events, most notably the World Cup.
In a statement released late Friday, Infantino acknowledged that the initiative had “created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.”
Infantino’s future as president, with his re-election bid for a fourth term at the FIFA Congress in March, is now uncertain.
Infantino expressed, “Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game.”
Infantino’s backtrack came after European countries, through UEFA, threatened to boycott all FIFA events, including the World Cup, if the plan proceeded.
Opposition also emerged from Concacaf, which oversees soccer in North, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as from the Asian Football Confederation.
Resistance was also present within FIFA. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance, resigned, criticizing the proposal as “a bad deal” for soccer that would “mortgage” its future.
On Friday, FIFA’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, stated that the administration had been “deceived” about the project. He described it as “the project of one person,” urging soccer’s political leaders to reevaluate and make the right decisions.
Lamour emphasized his duty to uphold “certain values” and support his colleagues, adding, “If that means I lose my job, then so be it. I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”
Infantino’s proposal included an initial payment of $20 million to each FIFA member country and doubling their annual stipend to $5 million. This would have been partially financed by selling about a 20% stake in FIFA Forward Enterprise to a group led by Thrive Eternal, managed by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is married to President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
