When FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced his $20 billion private equity plan last week to create and sell shares of the World Cup, he was immediately met with global condemnation.
The 55 member associations of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, swiftly and publicly agreed to boycott all future editions of all FIFA international tournaments should the plan move forward, stating simply, “the World Cup is not for sale.”
Meanwhile, Concacaf, the body for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, emphatically rejected the proposal, stating its “deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies.”
The Asian Football Confederation then announced that it “stood in solidarity” with UEFA and Concacaf and that “football should never have been placed in such a position.” The three confederations alone account for 136 of the 211 total member associations of FIFA.
Infantino first responded to the mass scrutiny with an ultimatum, which only put him under heavier fire. The 56-year-old Swiss executive, amid all of the division, eventually abandoned the entire project, announcing the reversal on Friday night. The World Cup’s “For Sale” sign is gone and Infantino’s reputation was not expected to recover, but it hasn’t been a universal pile-on.
First Support for Infantino Emerges
While UEFA has been upfront about losing confidence in Infantino and suggesting the exit door, one single country pledged its support of the FIFA president.
“We welcome FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s decision to withdraw the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal in the interest of the global football community,” President of the Qatar Football Association, H.E Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, said in a statement Saturday. “While the proposal had merit, we applaud the wisdom behind prioritizing unity among Member Associations.
“The Qatar Football Association fully supports President Infantino’s efforts to continue growing and strengthening the game globally.”
Interestingly, the president of Paris Saint-Germain, Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has been designated by multiple European soccer leaders as a realistic challenger of Infantino for the FIFA presidential seat in the election next March. He is also the chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, the government operated shareholding organization.
Qatar was the first to publicly back Infantino, but it wasn’t the last. The association presidents of Djibouti and Lebanon both released statements offering their continued support for the incumbent who was praised for withdrawing the World Cup plot just a matter of hours after doubling down. “The president of the Lebanese Football Association believes that the proposal could be re-examined by the relevant parties at FIFA and by the football community in a way that serves the greater good of the sport and preserves its unity,” a statement read.
Plenty of Opposition Still Remains
While it wasn’t all negative for Infantino, the tide is clearly heading in one direction. Claudius Schäfer, the head of Europe’s professional soccer leagues, told Swiss publication SonntagsZeitung that the FIFA president’s days were numbered.
“When I saw how this whole thing unfolded and that FIFA’s key bodies weren’t involved, then there’s essentially only one consequence in any company or association,” Schäfer concluded. When pushed on whether this consequence was that Infantino’s position would be untenable, Schäfer agreed: “This is usually the consequence when someone in a company pushes such a business deal forward without anyone knowing about it.”
“It’s solely about the financial advantages; everything else is completely ignored,” the executive continued. “Nobody knew about the plans, not even the FIFA Council, the governing body of FIFA. I was very surprised that the president was acting completely alone in this matter.”
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