International football associations say no to commercializing FIFA’s World Cup.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has found out that he is not a powerful international statesman, rather he is just an administrator for soccer’s governing body. Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors has ended. Other powerful people within the international football ecosystem said no and friendships with a world leader and powerful businessmen were not enough to help Infantino. European football associations threatened to boycott the World Cup unless Infantino abandoned his idea. UEFA, Europe’s soccer governing body, said the deal would amount to the “sale” of football. CONCACAF, the North America, Central America and Caribbean football governing body and Asia’s football governing body, AFC, also said no to Infantino. Infantino’s senior advisor, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned in protest over the plan. Still Infantino wanted FIFA members to vote on his scheme but he read the room. His plan was doomed.
For now, Infantino remains in his position but he has to mend differences with various regional international football governing bodies and that could be a problem in his bid for reelection to FIFA’s highest office in 2027. “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,” Infantino said in a statement. “Our purpose has always been and will always be to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.” Infantino brought in billions of dollars for FIFA from the 2026 World Cup although there is evidence that he oversold the World Cup economic impact to at least two cities, Toronto, Ontario and Kansas City where the so-called economic benefits never materialized. But that is not unusual when it comes to mega events.
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