Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup is dead after the heroics of UEFA, CONCACAF, the AFC and two members of the FIFA hierarchy.
While it appears the FIFA president will fight on to save his job, the Swiss football administrator has abandoned his proposal to sell £3.1billion ($4.1bn) in shares in FIFA tournaments to private investors.
Infantino said: ‘The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed.
‘And more so, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the FIFA Member Associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA Council, the Confederations and wider stakeholders.
Gianni Infantino waves goodbye to his unilateral plans for private investment in FIFA
‘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.
‘Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. 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, and particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.’
The statement marks an embarrassing U-turn for Infantino, less than 24 hours after he attempted to clarify his plans and blamed the media for misconstruing them.
On Friday, the AFC became the third confederation to reject Gianni Infantino’s proposal to raise private capital for the commercial and operational management of FIFA tournaments.
The decision followed CONCACAF’s rejection on Thursday and came after UEFA announced it would boycott FIFA competitions.
It became clear on Friday afternoon that Infantino did not have the support to proceed with his plans, with the opposing nations rising to a staggering 135 – 64 per cent of the FIFA membership.
The plans appeared terminal when Carlos Cordeiro, senior advisor to Gianni Infantino, announced his resignation from FIFA – becoming the first internal dissident.
Six hours later, FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour turned against the president – risking his job – criticising the plans and calling upon nations to dethrone Infantino.
Infantino had hoped to create a new enterprise with significant investment from Joshua Kushner – brother of Jared, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Meanwhile, investment bank J.P. Morgan were advising on potential investors.
A significant number of FIFA members raised concerns from the initial leak of the plan, questioning how such thorough ideas could be developed unilaterally without prior consultation.
Despite FIFA maintaining throughout that there would be a proper consultation period, there were major questions about how that could be achieved when potential investors were already lined up.
UEFA accused FIFA of trying to bribe members with a £30million incentive to approve Infantino’s plan, with a September 19 deadline to respond to the offer.
Those plans, though, are now dead in the water after Infantino scrapped them at half past midnight (UK) on Saturday.
There is growing opposition to Infantino’s presidency, with sources telling Daily Mail Sport that CONCACAF nations believe he is losing or has already lost their confidence.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham believes Infantino’s position is untenable and he is not alone.
Speaking to reporters in Sheffield on Friday, Burnham said: ‘This was an outrageous suggestion. The idea that it could even be brought forward shows that, in my view, [he] is the wrong man to lead the organisation.’
With the controversy surrounding Infantino, member nations could still trigger a vote of no confidence. The threshold to initiate the process is 46 FIFA member associations.
