Gianni Infantino Abandons FIFA Forward Enterprise Amid Backlash
Gianni Infantino has scrapped his most explosive project yet. Under siege from every corner of the game he claims to protect, the FIFA president has abandoned plans to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to private equity investors.
The proposal, branded FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), was meant to be his next big play. Instead, it has turned into the gravest crisis of his presidency.
A $20bn Vision That Tore the Game Apart
On Tuesday, FIFA unveiled FFE: a new vehicle bundling the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights – broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing – with the operational delivery of its tournaments.
The pitch was bold. External investors would be invited to buy minority, non‑controlling stakes in FFE, in a deal valuing the project at around $20bn (£15bn). FIFA claimed it could raise up to $4.2bn (£3.1bn) and generate more than $10bn in “football development funding” over the next four years.
Infantino set a hard deadline. Member associations were given until September 19 to back the plan, sweetened with a £30.1m incentive to sign up.
Then the backlash hit.
UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) lined up against the scheme. The English FA voiced “deep concern”. On social media, Prime Minister Andy Burnham cut through the financial jargon with a blunt reminder: “football belongs to fans”.
Inside FIFA, the mood turned mutinous.
Allies Walk Away
The pressure spiked when one of Infantino’s own senior advisors, Carlos Cordeiro, walked out.
In an exclusive statement to Sky News, the former banker and ex‑US Soccer president called the plan “a bad deal for football” and “for the long-term future of the game”.
“As a senior advisor to the FIFA president, a former banker, and a lifelong football fan, I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” he said. “Let me be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally.”
Then came another blow. FIFA’s chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, accused Infantino of a lack of openness, telling the Associated Press that staff had been “deceived” and “deserve better than contempt and intimidation”. He described the sell‑off as “the project of one person” and urged football’s leaders to act.
FIFA tried to stem the tide with a statement in the early hours of Friday, insisting “nobody is selling football”. It did little to calm the storm.
By Saturday at 12:30am (BST), Infantino’s position had become untenable.
Infantino Backs Down
The climbdown came in a short, pointed statement, explicitly attributed to “the FIFA president” – a detail that underlined how isolated he has become within his own organisation.
“The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed,” Infantino said.
He stressed that the plan would only ever proceed with majority backing from member associations and after consultation with the FIFA Council, the confederations and “wider stakeholders”.
Then came the admission.
“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. Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve.
“As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”
Infantino said he now wants “to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”
The apology many were looking for never came. For Infantino, sorry remains off the table.
Confederations Claim a Victory
If Infantino hoped to present the retreat as a mutual reset, the confederations treated it as a clear win.
On the AFC website, its president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa welcomed FIFA’s decision to walk away from the sell‑off.
“Any initiative that has the potential to impact global football will be presented and discussed with the Confederations, the FIFA Council, Member Associations and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent and meaningful manner,” he wrote.
“The future of global football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our game.”
It was both an endorsement of the U‑turn and a warning shot: no more secret mega‑projects pushed from the top down.
A President Fighting for His Job
Inside FIFA, the question is no longer how damaging this has been to Infantino’s reputation. Many in the game argue there is little left to damage.
Yet removing a FIFA president is notoriously difficult. Infantino knows that. Those who have worked with him expect him to cling on for as long as the statutes allow.
There is a presidential election in March. Until this week, it was widely assumed he would stand unopposed. He had the backing of more than 200 of FIFA’s 211 member associations, including the English FA.
Now, those same federations are weighing their options.
By November 18, any challenger must formally declare their intention to run. Between now and then, conversations in hotel corridors, confederation offices and executive lounges will shape the future of world football’s most powerful seat.
Infantino also has explaining to do – and not just to his internal critics. He must answer to FIFA Council members, confederation presidents, federation chiefs, and the bankers and investors who worked with him, often in secret, on a project that has now collapsed.
There is also the political dimension. Infantino had cultivated ties at the highest levels of power, including with Donald Trump. The former US president, as the saying goes, does not like losers. Infantino promised him something he could not deliver. How long before even Trump decides the FIFA president is yesterday’s man?
Who Steps Forward?
Names are already circulating, even if no one has yet stepped out publicly.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Paris Saint-Germain president and one of the most influential figures in the modern game, sits on the UEFA executive committee and is often mentioned in whispers. But indications are that he has no interest in replacing Infantino.
Sheikh Salman, the AFC president who finished runner‑up to Infantino in the FIFA election a decade ago and who opposed the sell‑off, will inevitably be linked again.
Victor Montagliani, the CONCACAF president, is another. His confederation has historically been close to Infantino and just co‑hosted the World Cup across three of its member countries. Yet CONCACAF publicly rejected the FFE proposal on Thursday, a sharp break from the president they once backed.
Then there is Aleksander Ceferin. The UEFA president would be a popular choice in many quarters. He represents a very different vision of how football should be run: no hydration breaks as marketing tools, no FIFA Peace Prizes, no Qatari‑owned private jets for the president, no $1m (£742,000) World Cup tickets. But Ceferin has never publicly expressed any desire to move from UEFA to FIFA.
For now, those are just names on a board. No one has moved their piece.
Infantino has survived crises before, riding out criticism with a mix of political deals, development funding and sheer stubbornness. This time feels different. This time, his own advisors have turned, the confederations have united, and the World Cup itself – the crown jewel of the sport – has been dragged into a row over privatisation and power.
The sell‑off is dead. The presidency is not. Not yet.
The real contest starts now: who dares to run against a wounded FIFA president, and what kind of game will they promise to give back to the world?
