Fifa's plan to launch a vehicle controlling the commercial rights to the World Cup and sell a stake to investors caused chaos across football, with Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf leading the opposition before the proposal collapsed.
Key facts
- Fifa planned to launch a vehicle to control World Cup commercial rights and sell a stake to investors.
- The story was first broken by the Times on a Tuesday afternoon, according to the Guardian.
- Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf led the opposition to the plan.
- Uefa threatened that European national teams would not participate in any Fifa competition while the proposals remained alive.
- The proposal, outlined in a 25-page sales deck to Fifa's 211 member associations, was abandoned.
Football’s governing body was thrown into turmoil this week after news emerged that Fifa planned to launch a vehicle to control the commercial rights to the World Cup and sell a stake of that company to investors, according to the Guardian.
The plan caught nearly everyone by surprise. The Guardian reported that even members of the central decision-making body, the Fifa Council, had not known about it when reports first emerged on Tuesday afternoon. The story was first broken by the Times.
According to the Guardian, the disclosure also caught Fifa president Gianni Infantino unawares. Fifa was rushed into announcing a plan it had wanted to keep under wraps for longer, doing so under the full glare of global media interest.
Opposition mounted quickly, with Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf leading the resistance. Uefa issued a statement saying European national teams would not “participate in any Fifa competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that Fifa will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.”
The proposal was ultimately abandoned. In a Guardian opinion column, Suzanne Wrack characterised Uefa’s statement as “a bold, necessary and effective declaration of war” against Infantino and described the 25-page sales deck circulated to Fifa’s 211 member associations as “now very expensive waste paper.”
Women’s football featured prominently in the fallout despite being given only a single mention in the sales deck. Wrack wrote that, with youth and senior qualifiers on the horizon, the aborted plan would have heavily impacted the women’s game, which she said found itself on the frontline in the fight for the “soul of football.”
Why it matters
The World Cup is football's most valuable asset, and any move to sell commercial rights to private investors would reshape how the sport is governed and funded. The swift, unified pushback from major confederations shows the limits of Fifa's power and raises lasting questions about who controls the game.
Frequently asked questions
What did Fifa propose?
According to the Guardian, Fifa planned to launch a vehicle to control the commercial rights to the World Cup and to sell a stake of that company to investors, as outlined in a 25-page sales deck sent to its 211 member associations.
Who opposed the plan?
Uefa, the AFC and Concacaf led the opposition. Uefa said European national teams would not participate in any Fifa competition while the proposals remained alive unless they were abandoned entirely.
How would it have affected women's football?
The Guardian's Suzanne Wrack wrote that, with youth and senior qualifiers on the horizon, the aborted plan would have heavily impacted the women's game, even though women's football received only a single mention in Fifa's sales deck.