FIFA drops unpopular plan to sell World Cup stake

Like a ref after reviewing the VAR, FIFA President Gianni Infantino changed his mind mid-game yesterday, officially recalling his proposal to sell a 20% stake in future World Cup profits to private equity after resounding condemnation of it from inside and outside the sport.After delivering a highly successful and lucrative North American World Cup, Infantino seemed poised to skate into a fourth consecutive term as FIFA’s president. Now, he’s hoping to hang onto his job after unveiling a plan on Tuesday that would have:Spun off the money-making parts of FIFA—including proceeds from tournaments like the World Cup, broadcasting deals, hospitality—into a new subsidiary distinct from FIFA’s nonprofit mission.Valued that subsidiary at $20 billion to sell a 20% stake to a private equity group led by Joshua Kushner (brother of President Trump’s son-in-law) for $4.2 billion.Forced to play defenseThe backlash came fierce and fast once Infantino revealed the proposal to FIFA’s 211 member nations. On Thursday, it reached a fever…pitch when UEFA, the European soccer body, vowed to boycott all FIFA events unless the plan went the way of the dodo bird.Still, Infantino began Friday defiant. Yesterday morning, FIFA released a statement that said “nobody is selling football” and blamed “erroneous reporting in the media” for the proposal’s negative reception.Un-friendly Friday: But then, the Asian Soccer Federation, known as AFC, announced it was standing with the North American, Central American, and Caribbean soccer federations in denouncing the plan.And internally, Infantino’s advisor Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker, quit his role at FIFA, calling the plan “a bad deal.” And FIFA’s COO all but dared Infantino to fire him, telling the Associated Press that the org’s president had “deceived” the staff with the sell-off plan, calling it “the project of one person.”That one person, Infantino, then announced yesterday evening that FIFA was backing away from the deal. “Our purpose has always been—and will always be—to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed,” he said. It remains unclear if Infantino will be backing away from FIFA.—HVL, DL