What has been happening?
It has been a week that has rocked football. The news caught everyone by surprise. When reports first emerged on Tuesday afternoon that Fifa, world football’s governing body, was to launch a vehicle to control the commercial rights to the World Cup, and would sell a stake of this company to investors, even members of the central decision-making body, the Fifa Council, hadn’t known about it. But it was equally the case that the story – first broken by the Times – caught Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, unawares. Fifa were rushed into announcing a plan they had wanted to keep under wraps for longer, and in the full glare of global media interest.
What’s the problem?
The plan immediately set alarm bells ringing among many stakeholders and for more than one reason. The headline was that Fifa planned to “sell the World Cup”, something that many opposed in principle. But the way in which the plans had been conceived, with no consultation and a brisk timeline for launch, also punched administrators in the gut.
Then there was the question of what the new vehicle, to be known as Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), would actually do. On Thursday the Guardian reported the details of the sales deck that JP Morgan had put together with Fifa to show how FFE would grow revenues for the governing body and its investors. Key would be “a growing tournament portfolio”, “third party sources of capital and debt financing”, and prioritising “high yield” partnerships and events. This was a dagger right at the heart of every other competition organiser in the sport.
What was Fifa’s response?
It responded to the leak by getting on the front foot. The new venture, it said, would generate $10bn in extra funding for its 211 members associations, although participation would be entirely voluntary. A stake would be sold to an investment group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, but they would have “only a minority stake … and will not play any operational role”.
Infantino, meanwhile, used his Instagram channels to insist that FFE was simply a proposal and that any furore was just part of a “democratic consultation process”. FFE “would unlock previously uncaptured economic value”, he said. “It would unlock potential in every corner of the world across men’s, women’s and youth football.” There was to be no change to the plans or the deadlines set.
Who is against the plan?
A growing number of stakeholders. They began to respond, criticising the plans openly in ways that any number of recent scandals involving Fifa and its president had not, from sky high World Cup ticket prices to the creation of the Fifa Peace Prize and its award to Donald Trump. The UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, and the English FA attacked FFE, as Uefa – the governing body of European football – convened an emergency meeting of its 55 members. On Thursday they voted unanimously to boycott all Fifa tournaments should FFE go ahead.
After the vote, Uefa released a statement that was excoriating of Fifa. “The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in Fifa competitions, football changes forever”, it said. “Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure. Every decision shaping the future of football is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.”
Come Friday morning the Asian Confederation (AFC) and Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America, had joined Uefa in condemnation, though they both stopped short of declaring a boycott. The AFC urged Fifa to “undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework”.
But Fifa is going ahead?
No. Despite initially doubling down in response to Uefa’s boycott – saying there would be no deviation from the plans and blaming the media for any controversy – Infantino issued a statement in the early hours of Saturday to confirm the proposal had collapsed. The Fifa president admitted the project “has created divisions of a nature that are no longer of the interest of the objective”.
“Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve,” he said. “As a result, this proposal will not proceed. Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”
Is Infantino under pressure?
Shortly after Fifa issued its “clarification” on the process, one of Infantino’s most senior aides, the former Goldman Sachs banker Carlos Cordeiro, resigned from his role, citing “unequivocal” opposition to the deal. More leaked documents revealed that Fifa had also commissioned – on 30 July – an expedited research project into expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams in 2030, a plan which would fulfil one of the key ambitions of the JP Morgan briefing document. The UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, upgraded his criticism and called Infantino “the wrong man” to lead Fifa. As the weekend arrived there was more pressure being placed on the Fifa president than at any time since the fall of the disgraced Sepp Blatter in 2015.
