FIFA has abandoned plans to create a commercial company around the FIFA World Cup after the proposal triggered resistance from football confederations and senior figures within the game’s governing structure.
The governing body confirmed on Friday that it will no longer pursue its proposal to sell a minority stake in a newly created commercial subsidiary after concerns that the move risked dividing world football.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the governing body had decided not to proceed after consultations with stakeholders.
“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.
The proposal, unveiled earlier this week, sought to establish FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a commercial vehicle that would oversee the organisation’s events and commercial operations, including the FIFA World Cup. FIFA had intended to sell up to a 20% minority stake, valuing the subsidiary at around $20 billion, while retaining full control over football governance and competitions.
The move was designed to raise fresh capital that FIFA said would be reinvested into football development programmes across its member associations.
Opposition gathered pace across world football
The proposal quickly met opposition from several of football’s most influential governing bodies.
UEFA emerged as the strongest critic, arguing that the commercial rights attached to the World Cup were not assets that could be sold to outside investors. The European governing body warned the proposal crossed a line for football’s governing institutions and questioned both the process and the principle behind the plan.
UEFA’s opposition also carried significant voting weight. Combined with the Asian Football Confederation (47 members) and CONCACAF (41), the three confederations represented 143 of FIFA’s 211 member associations, well above the simple majority of 106 votes needed to block the proposal.
The opposition widened as other continental confederations, including CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), also voiced concerns over the proposal.
The debate also exposed divisions within FIFA itself. Senior officials publicly questioned the initiative, with one high-profile resignation and criticism over how the proposal had been developed internally.
Although FIFA maintained that investors would have no influence over sporting decisions and that football governance would remain entirely under FIFA’s control, critics argued that introducing private capital into the commercial arm of the World Cup risked altering the game’s long-term priorities.
A setback for FIFA’s commercial ambitions
The abandoned proposal represented one of FIFA’s most ambitious commercial restructuring plans since Infantino took office in 2016.
FIFA had argued that outside investment would create additional funding for member associations, infrastructure projects, grassroots football and the women’s game without relinquishing control of the sport.
Instead, the governing body has now chosen to withdraw the plan in an effort to avoid further divisions ahead of the next World Cup cycle.
The reversal leaves FIFA with its existing commercial model intact, with revenues continuing to come primarily from broadcasting rights, sponsorship agreements and major tournament income rather than external equity investment.
The decision also marks a rare occasion where sustained opposition from football’s confederations has forced FIFA to step back from a major strategic proposal before it reached the voting stage.