Analysis: Why Selling Stakes Would Be Disastrous for FIFA — and Gianni Infantino

When British newspaper The Times reported on July 28 that FIFA was exploring a new structure that would allow it to sell stakes in its prime assets (including media contracts, sponsorships, events) to private investors, few could have imagined the seismic repercussions it would have across the global soccer landscape.

The news led to a swift and harsh rebuke from the soccer community, including UEFA (Europe), Asian Football Confederation (Asia) and Concacaf (North and Central America, and the Caribbean), which voted against the proposals and pushed for indefinite boycotts of FIFA events/competitions. FIFA President Gianni Infantino abandoned his sell-off plans on August 1 after his private investors backed out, and now his own tenure as head of the international federation is being called into question.

Here’s a detailed look at what FIFA has proposed and why, how the soccer community reacted, and what might come next.

Taking Soccer Further Away from Fans

The exorbitant ticket prices at the World Cup, the introduction of mandatory hydration (read: advertising) breaks, and charging fans for the first time to watch press conferences were just a sign of things to come. Infantino, who became FIFA president in February 2016, has risked completely alienating soccer fans through his outline for the organization’s future.

FIFA planned to develop a concentrated commercial rights and event operations subsidiary (FIFA Forward Enterprise) and create a FIFA Fast Forward Programme to give all 211 member associations $40 million in development funding for the next four years. It was a strategy that caused widespread indignation from international associations, as they would have only received the money if they backed Infantino’s proposal, funded by private stakeholders and private equity firms. Above all, it was a betrayal of soccer fans around the world who believe in an open, transparent game.

Infantino has talked about FIFA’s existence to “support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world,” pledged to “democratize football worldwide” to help federations and communities everywhere, and stressed the need to “unlock the full potential of broadcast rights and sponsorships” across men’s, women’s, and youth football. The heroic storylines involving Cape Verde and Congo DR this summer fed perfectly into the narrative that the president was devising.

However, his actions simply showed his contempt for everyday fans, veering too far toward the commercial and corporate interests of soccer. Siphoning off stakes in its own assets would have done the opposite of democratizing the sport, as Infantino is championing, because it could have allowed investors to seek out the biggest profits possible, e.g. through charging fans more, staging the World Cup every two years, or influencing where tournaments should be held.

The popularity of soccer soared because it was a simple, affordable and accessible game that could be played anywhere, and because it was not owned by millionaires and oligarchs.

The Future of FIFA Tournaments

The FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle of international soccer, exemplified by the recent record attendances and television viewership figures (more than 51 million viewers for the final on Fox) for this summer’s expanded edition in North America. The governing body is also accelerating plans to expand the tournament further to 64 teams in 2030 — and that was music to the ears of private investors.

In protest, UEFA and its 55 member associations pledged to boycott all FIFA events/tournaments if the plans proceeded, stating that they “unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors.” Concacaf and the Asian Football Federation followed suit by confirming their rejection of the proposals.

Of the 211 member associations, more than 136 publicly voted to reject FIFA’s proposal, when only 106 votes were needed to veto a decision. It was virtually a non-starter.

A World Cup without national teams from Europe, North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Asia would have been unthinkable. The three recent host nations (Canada, Mexico and the United States) would have boycotted the competition, as would the two European co-hosts for 2030 (Spain and Portugal) and three of the four semi-finalists from this year’s tournament (Spain, France and England).

A dedicated boycott also threatened to derail the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, which itself has been expanded to 32 teams. FIFA is still in a rush against time to placate the dissatisfied nations, or face its upcoming tournaments being thrown into disarray.

Trump and Infantino’s Relationship

Gianni Infantino’s cozy relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump has made headlines in recent months. His decision to create and award an inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to Trump for “uniting people all over the world in peace” at the Final Draw in December also raised eyebrows at international associations, and at FIFA itself.

During the tournament, President Trump’s intervention in getting USMNT striker Folarin Balogun‘s red card against Bosnia-Herzegovina suspended for a year was another grievous overreach of his position. The decision to suspend, rather than rescind a red card, followed a similar incident where Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo had a pre-tournament red card suspended by FIFA, and it hinted that Infantino was being influenced by heads of state and/or soccer chiefs.

The secretive nature of the discussions drew more ire when FIFA’s proposals were finally made public. The Wall Street Journal reported that J.P. Morgan was hired to value the planned venture earlier this year, with one presentation by the bank suggesting that FIFA could more than double players and competitions via a spin-off.

The fact that Infantino’s plan had initial backing by Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, should also raise serious alarm bells. The Times reported that Infantino would likely take on a commissioner role for FFE with a reported $30 million annual salary when his final term at FIFA concludes — representing a blatant conflict of interest.

Corruption Allegations

Allegations of corruption are nothing new to FIFA, given its last two presidents have also departed in scandal.

Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015, was suspended by the association’s Ethics Committee in October 2015 over allegations of mis-selling a World Cup TV rights contract and making a “disloyal payment” to then-UEFA President Michel Platini. He would later be banned from football-related activities by the same committee for six years, barring him from the organization.

João Havelange served as president for 24 years before Blatter, though he was forced to resign as honorary president in April 2013 due to a corruption and bribery scandal. An internal FIFA Ethics Committee report found Havelange guilty of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes from a former FIFA marketing partner, while his behavior was officially labeled “morally and ethically reproachable.”

FIFA has been tainted by the selection of host countries for its flagship World Cup before. Court filings show that Qatar beat a United States bid for the 2022 World Cup after $330 million was transferred to influence voters in 2010, while former FIFA Executive Committee Member Charles Blazer admitted receiving bribes in connection with bids for the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.

Infantino’s tenure could yet end in equally acrimonious circumstances.

What Next?

Gianni Infantino has backed himself into a hole of his own making with this latest move, and he might not be able to recover from it. Instead of an open discussion about the sustainable development of soccer, it turned into a public debate about his future as FIFA president.

Internally, the president is losing more support by the day, culminating in the resignation of Senior Advisor Carlos Cordeiro (a former president of the United States Soccer Federation) and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour claiming to have felt “deceived” by Infantino.

In a fast-moving situation, the English and Welsh Football Associations were the first to announce that they would not support Infantino’s re-election bid, while UEFA has threatened him with legal action over the failed plans. His position will likely be challenged in the next presidential election at the 77th FIFA Congress in Morocco next March, with Canada’s Victor Montagliani tipped as a potential rival.

Football is the beautiful game, but it still requires funding to support infrastructure, coaching, national teams, competitions, grassroots soccer and the women’s game across the world. It cannot be allowed to be overshadowed anymore by corruption allegations.

Gianni Infantino may wind up just like his predecessors: remembered not as a visionary, but as a villain.