World Cup
Infantino pulls FIFA investment plan after global protest
In a dramatic reversal, FIFA president Gianni Infantino withdrew the controversial FIFA plan to sell stakes in the Football World Cup to investors, ending a protest storm that had engulfed the organisation. The decision, described as a Rückzieher on his Investitionsplänen, was announced amid mounting Widerstands from member associations.
Infantino told the BBC that the project had "caused divisions" and was no longer in the interest of its original goal. He added, "Therefore this proposal will not be pursued further," signalling a clear break from the earlier proposal.
FIFA confirmed the retreat on X, stating that after all viewpoints were carefully heard, the project had led to splits that were not aligned with the intended purpose of the competition. The statement echoed the language of the earlier Plan and highlighted the depth of the internal Protest.
The original proposal had offered each of the 211 member associations 40 million dollars (34.6 million euros) to back private investment in the tournaments, including both the men’s and women’s Football World Cups. The offer was meant to secure support for the sale of Anteile in the Weltverbands’ key Wettbewerben.
According to the plan, selling roughly 20 percent of the shares would raise up to 4.2 billion dollars, valuing the new business segment at about 20 billion dollars. The projected Verkauf was framed as a way to fund future developments across the sport.
European, Asian and North‑American confederations – UEFA, AFC and CONCACAF – publicly opposed the scheme, and FIFA blamed “faulty media reports” for fuelling the Protest. The Verband’s own statement linked the backlash to a perceived attack on the soul of Fußball.
Infantino pulls $4.2bn World Cup stake plan after UEFA boycott threat
Internally, senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest, calling the share‑sale "a bad deal for football" and saying the association "pawned the future of football without any convincing justification". UEFA responded that no one sells the soul of the sport, reinforcing the sentiment that the Weltverband would never do so.
The original caption from the source read "Leon Neal/getty-images-bilder)VorlesenAktuelle" and included the timestamp "Zeit:0:00Gesamtdauer:0:001xJetzt". The episode illustrates how a Plan intended to attract Investoren sparked a massive Proteststurm, leading the Chef of FIFA to perform a full Rückzieher on his Investitionsplänen.