Fifa scraps share-sale plan after fierce backlash

Infantino proposal had prompted threat of World Cup boycott by European teams

Fifa’s plan ⁠to ⁠sell a piece of ​its business empire to outside investors has collapsed following an open ​revolt by football officials worldwide and ‌a major rift among top Fifa executives.

“Having listened ⁠carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the ​project has 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,” Fifa president Gianni Infantino said in a statement on Friday evening.

The deal, in which Fifa had aimed to raise up to $4.2 billion by selling a roughly 20% stake in ​the group, valuing the ⁠new arm at $20 billion, is no longer active, the New York Post reported earlier, citing four sources familiar with the matter.

The proposal, which came out on Tuesday, was met with immediate resistance led by the ⁠European football governing body UEFA, which accused Fifa of putting the sport’s “soul” up for sale.

On Thursday, UEFA’s 55 member nations voted unanimously to boycott all Fifa tournaments — including the World Cup —  less than two weeks after Spain’s men’s team were crowned world champions.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the North American and Caribbean federation also condemned the move.

Carlos Cordeiro, a ​senior adviser to Infantino, quit on Friday in protest at the plan and Fifa’s chief operating officer Kevin ​Lamour ‌said staff were “deceived” by Infantino, describing the proposal as a “project of one person”.

Fifa had proposed creating a $20-billion subsidiary, Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), ​to ⁠run the World Cup and its other events, but the non-profit group insisted that “nobody is selling football” and that the ⁠deal had been mischaracterised in the media.

Thrive Eternal, a fund run by Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, was expected to lead the proposed investor group, Fifa said. Joshua Kushner is the ⁠brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

Infantino ​said in a letter to all member associations that they would receive $40 million each if they agreed to Fifa’s proposal by Sept 19.

Fifa said it would not go ahead with ‌the plan without the ⁠support of the majority of ​its member associations.