FIFA insists “nobody is selling football” amid criticism of its decision to launch a consultation on selling stakes in a World Cup commercial entity to private investors.
However, football’s global governing body stopped short of withdrawing the controversial plan and insisted it would press ahead with the consultation period.
UEFA reacted furiously when the plans to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) first emerged in media reports in The Times and the Financial Times on Tuesday.
Less than 48 hours later, UEFA’s 55 member associations insisted they would not participate in any FIFA tournament until the plan was withdrawn. CONCACAF, the confederation representing 41 nations from North and Central America, along with the Caribbean, also made clear its opposition to FIFA’s plan, saying it “rejected the proposal”.
In a statement released on Friday morning, FIFA said: “We have heard the feedback provided by the respective confederations in relation to the proposed establishment of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) and would like to address the issues that have surfaced since the initial media reporting on Tuesday.
“We respect the feedback and concern aired in public and reaffirm our commitment to an open and democratic consultation.
”Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports. We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”
The statement continued: “FFE has been proposed solely to ensure that all FIFA Member Associations (MAs) have the opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the commercial opportunity of football in their respective countries, and that this does not come at the cost of either the spirit or the governance of FIFA or football itself.
“Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.”
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Kaveh explains why FIFA president Infantino is under serious pressure after UEFA said it will boycott FIFA tournaments if the proposal to sell off a stake in the World Cup goes ahead and CONCACAF also rejected the idea of the proposals
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has publicly backed the plan, with an investor group led by Thrive Eternal, founded by Joshua Kushner – the brother of United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – waiting in the wings to secure a minority stake in the new venture.
However, promises of huge returns to national associations if FFE goes ahead could surely not be honoured if the men’s and women’s World Cups took place without European involvement, even if Infantino could still muster majority support for FFE.
European and world leagues are also opposed to the plans – fearing that commercial imperatives will drive FIFA to hold bigger and more frequent tournaments in the future, eating even further into domestic schedules.
UEFA’s opposition to the plan, in its words, is “unanimous and unequivocal”.
“No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” European football’s governing body stated.
FIFA’s statement added that “each MA should be allowed to review the proposal and have a say in shaping their own future”.
Is this the beginning of the end for toxic Infantino?
Analysis from Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol:
Gianni Infantino has a fight on his hands to keep his job because of the fallout from his controversial secret plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors.
Infantino was guaranteed to be re-elected to serve another four-year term next March but serious questions are now being asked about his long-term future.
Infantino had already received more than 200 letters of support from the 211 federations who will have a vote in the election next year – including the English FA.
Until this week, he was expected to stand unopposed and be elected by acclamation – again – at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in March.
Such is the strength of feeling now though about his unravelling World Cup sell-off plan that at least one other candidate is likely to emerge to stand against him.
FIFA’s rules have already been changed so that Infantino can stand again. FIFA presidents are meant to be limited to three terms and a total of 12 years in post, but the rules were changed so that his first term, when he took over from his predecessor Sepp Blatter in 2016, is not counted as a full term.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is also chairman of European Football Clubs, has been identified as a potential FIFA president but sources close to him have made it clear he is not interested in taking over from Infantino.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin would have significant support if he was to challenge Infantino. Ceferin took the unprecedented step of boycotting the World Cup final earlier this month because he was so concerned with the way Infantino has been running FIFA.
Slovenian lawyer Ceferin represents a totally different vision to the way the game should be run. If he was running world football, there would be no FIFA Peace Prize, no hydration breaks, no Qatari-owned presidential private jets and no $1m World Cup tickets.
So far Ceferin has not expressed any interest in swapping UEFA for FIFA.
If he was to stand though, many federations would probably be impressed that UEFA is even richer than FIFA – thanks to the success of competitions such as the Champions League and the European Championship.
