UEFA Weighs World Cup Boycott Over Infantino’s $20 Billion Private Equity Push Funded by Joshua Kushner

World football is on the precipice of an all-out civil war. The Union of European Football Associations is expected to call its 55-member federations to an emergency online meeting, likely on Thursday, to condemn forcefully a controversial proposal by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.The secret plan, revealed late Tuesday, outlines the creation of a $20 billion FIFA commercial subsidiary, with 20 percent of the new entity owned by private equity investors.Shockwaves from the proposal have reverberated across the globe, threatening to fracture the relationship between FIFA and its continental confederations. At the heart of the outrage is what European football leaders characterize as a hijack of the world’s most popular sporting event.Mr. Infantino intensified the stakes by setting a Sept. 19 deadline for the 211 member federations under FIFA to accept a one-off $20 million offer to each — as part of a project to sell stakes in the World Cup — underwritten by the investment firm Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.Mr. Infantino detailed the “singular and unique funding opportunity” in a letter detailing why he wants to create the newly dubbed “FIFA Forward Enterprise” subsidiary, which would run the soccer body’s competitions and events like the men’s and women’s World Cups and the expanded Club World Cups.“It is my duty and responsibility as FIFA president to present such game-changing opportunities to you, our members,” Infantino wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press.The proposal met with immediate fury by European football’s governing body, which said the World Cup “is not FIFA’s to sell.”UEFA will reportedly discuss its options during its emergency meeting with member federations. The options include a potential World Cup boycott over what is described as a lack of consultation and governance.“Today we have learned of FIFA’s deadline to associations to support their proposals or have the one-off payout offer withdrawn,” the European association said in a statement. “This says everything you need to know about this plan.”“Having held discussions with many stakeholders across the game, UEFA knows there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA’s scheme. FIFA cannot continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends. We can grow the game correctly. It’s time to prioritize associations, clubs, leagues, players and fans,” reads the statement.FIFA’s private equity plan is the latest ambitious project proposed during Mr. Infantino’s 11-year presidency in which he has increasingly seemed to act without consulting soccer’s major stakeholders. Previous plans include creating a FIFA Peace Prize and trying to reorganize soccer’s calendar with World Cups every two years instead of four.Concerns about the plan were also aired Wednesday by the continental soccer bodies for Asia and the North American region known as CONCACAF.“We are deeply concerned by the lack of due process,” CONCACAF said in a statement.The Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation said it was “disappointed that a matter of such significance entered the public domain before the AFC family had been afforded the opportunity to examine and discuss it.”Continental bodies that organize their own international club and national-team competitions — such as the Champions League, European Championship and Copa America — could see threats to those events from FIFA’s desire to increase revenue and value for investors by holding World Cups and Club World Cups more often.If the FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary is approved by a majority of the 211 members, they also each are promised $20 million in funding from the four-year commercial cycle tied to the men’s 2030 World Cup.According to Mr. Infantino, the subsidiary would lead to “a pool of diverse international investors. This process will be led by J.P. Morgan.” If Mr. Infantino’s plan is rejected, those members will get their previously promised $10 million over the next four years, his letter stated.Prime Minister Andy Burnham, whose U.K. government is preparing to support hosting the 2035 Women’s World Cup in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, is also said to be opposed to the plan.“Football does not belong to investors,” Mr. Burnham, a longtime soccer fan, said in a video message on Instagram. “Once you have sold a piece of (the World Cup), you have sold out. Football belongs to the fans. It always has and it always will.”Resistance by British lawmakers — including threats of legislation in 2021 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson — previously helped stop the divisive European Super League project that was an existential threat to UEFA’s Champions League. Mr. Infantino had discreetly supported that project.Mr. Infantino’s leadership is being scrutinized in the aftermath of the World Cup for his close ties and potential favoritism toward Mr. Trump.

UEFA Weighs World Cup Boycott Over Infantino’s $20 Billion Private Equity Push Funded by Joshua Kushner

UEFA Weighs World Cup Boycott Over Infantino’s $20 Billion Private Equity Push Funded by Joshua Kushner

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