UEFA and CONCACAF rebel over FIFA World Cup stake sale plan

UEFA's 55 member associations voted to boycott all FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, if FIFA pressed ahead with a plan to sell stakes in a new World Cup subsidiary. CONCACAF, the 41-member confederation for North, Central America and the Caribbean, rejected the proposal later the same day, and FIFA said on July 31 it would continue a consultation process rather than abandon the idea.

The proposal would have created a subsidiary valued at about $20 billion and offered outside investors stakes of up to 20 percent. That structure would have brought private capital into the commercial core of the World Cup and FIFA’s other events, while regional confederations said they had been blindsided by the plan and were not given a full role in shaping it.

Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and a former White House World Cup task force member, resigned in protest on July 31. He called the proposal “a bad deal for football” and said he could not stand by while FIFA considered selling a stake in the World Cup.

The backlash was not confined to Europe and North and Central America. The Australian Players’ Union also criticized the plan, adding to the pressure on Infantino after he had described it as “not an obligation.” The dispute sharpened the divide over who should control the sport’s most valuable commercial properties, with FIFA seeking a larger financial structure and its confederations pushing back against any move they see as weakening their say over global soccer revenues.

The revolt also underscored how quickly resistance can form around FIFA’s commercial agenda. The controversy followed earlier tensions over Infantino’s broader effort to reshape FIFA’s competitions and business model, and now leaves the organization facing a more open fight with the continental bodies that supply both votes and political cover.