FIFA’s $20 billion World Cup operation plan sparks fury from UEFA

President Donald Trump, left, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino watch confetti fall at the conclusion of the World Cup championship final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP)

GENEVA, July 28 (AP): FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan to create a $20 billion company running the World Cup with private investors, including the Kushner family, was announced Tuesday - and immediately attacked by European soccer body UEFA.

"It is not FIFA’s to sell,” UEFA said in a statement. "None of us are the owners of football.”

Infantino's plans to form FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), running competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup, were first reported by The Times of London and the Financial Times.

FIFA said in a statement that FFE would raise to $4.2 billion later this year to help fund development programs "based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests.”

FIFA is working with J.P. Morgan, while investors would include Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The men’s World Cup that finished this month only deepened the political and personal ties between Trump and Infantino, and fueled concerns about those ties, including from UEFA.

"The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade - especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” UEFA said Tuesday, responding to the reports of selling stakes in FIFA competitions.

FIFA is currently a Swiss-based not-for-profit association of its 211 national member federations worldwide.

Those 211 members must approve any plan and would get the chance "to access up to $20 million in one-off capital,” FIFA said.

"This is about the democratization of football worldwide,” Infantino said in a FIFA statement.

UEFA, however, said it took reports of the project "extremely seriously. So should every national Football Association.”

"This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” said UEFA, which comprises 55 of the FIFA members.

The project announced Tuesday is the second time in Infantino’s increasingly controversial 11-year presidency that he has tried to push through a multi-billion-dollar deal with private backers.

In 2018, Infantino proposed a secretive $25 billion offer over 12 years with SoftBank of Japan to create new global competitions, including an expanded men’s Club World Cup, seemingly backed by Saudi Arabian money.