The FIFA World Cup should belong to fans, not super-rich investors

FIFA President Gianni Infantino recently cancelled plans to sell a 20 per cent stake in a company that would run the association’s tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors.

The move came following widespread criticism from national soccer associations, fans and even other FIFA officials over handing private investors a financial stake in the competition.

On July 28, Infantino announced that the world’s largest soccer association would sell roughly one-fifth of the World Cup’s commercial future to investors led by Thrive Capital — the venture capital firm run by Joshua Kushner , brother of U.S.

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared.

The investment vehicle was to be the FIFA Forward Enterprise , a commercial subsidiary holding the rights to FIFA’s competitions at a valuation near US$20 billion.

On July 29, Infantino set a deadline for member associations to claim their share of the proceeds, reported at roughly US$20 million each.

Two days later, the plan was dead , killed by a revolt of the national soccer confederations.

A week later, Infantino was apologizing at a crisis summit in Morocco amid calls for his ouster.

On Aug.

11, Trump defended Infantino and said replacing him would be a “terrible mistake.” UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations, called the plan a line “ that football’s governing institutions should never cross ,” voted to boycott future iterations of the World Cup and announced it had lost confidence in Infantino .

But what exactly was UEFA boycotting? Soccer as a festival From our perspective, UEFA’s objections were not against FIFA making money through the World Cup.

It already makes staggering amounts ; anyone who bought a World Cup ticket knows that .

The objection is rather to what the tournament would become.

Soccer associations that opposed the plan see the World Cup as something closer to a public service — a public good — than to a portfolio asset.