FIFA president Gianni Infantino abandoned his $20 billion plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors on Friday night, hours after his key ally Donald Trump denied knowing anything about it.
Asked at the White House whether Infantino had spoken to him about the proposal, Trump replied: “Who?” After the question was repeated, he added: “No, I didn’t speak to him.”
The plan, which would have injected private equity into FIFA tournaments through a commercial subsidiary backed by Joshua Kushner, collapsed after opposition mounted across global football. Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC all took a stand against the scheme. The AFC, Asia’s governing body, was the third and final confederation to reject the plan, pushing the number of opposing nations to 135, representing 64 per cent of FIFA’s membership.
The proposal unravelled when Carlos Cordeiro, senior advisor to Infantino and the World Cup’s White House advisor, resigned from FIFA, becoming the first internal dissident. Six hours later, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour turned against the president, calling on member nations to remove him and describing the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan as the brainchild of “one person.”
Investment bank J.P. Morgan had been advising on potential investors. UEFA accused FIFA of attempting to bribe members with a $40 million incentive to approve the plan, with a September 19 deadline to respond.
Democratic senator Ron Wyden, who leads an investigation into Jared Kushner, said: “Soccer fans around the world are rightfully outraged by this scheme from Infantino and Joshua Kushner to turn the World Cup into just another commodity for private equity to buy up.”
On social media, fans mocked the FIFA president. “Under the bus you go, Infantino,” wrote one user. Another compared him to Tom Hanks in Cast Away: “Gianni Infantino is officially Tom Hanks on Cast Away, alone on an island with a ball. It’s over.”
