This crosses a line – UEFA furious at FIFA’s World Cup private investment plan

UEFA insists the World Cup is not an “asset to trade” after FIFA confirmed plans to set up a private company to run its competitions.

Football’s world governing body said on Tuesday it was seeking to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which it revealed would be responsible for bringing together the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights with the operational delivery of its tournaments. The creation of the company, FIFA said, was subject to approval from national associations and the FIFA Council.

FIFA said the creation of FFE would lead to a significant increase in football development funding to national associations and bring FIFA’s total planned spending on development to more than 10 billion US dollars over the next four years.

FIFA said, if the proposal was given the green light, the plan was to “carefully select long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests in FFE”. It revealed Thrive Eternal, a company launched in April by Joshua Kushner, the brother of United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, would lead the proposed investor group for FFE.

UEFA said in a statement: “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross.

“UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game.

“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”

The Times reported FIFA president Gianni Infantino could become the commissioner or chief executive of the new vehicle from