FIFA President Gianni Infantino is abandoning his divisive plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity after receiving pushback from all corners of the soccer world.<\/p>\n
Infantino\u2019s decision came after his senior adviser who sat on a White House panel resigned and Asia\u2019s soccer body joined Europe and North America in opposing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving 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,\u201d Infantino said in a statement on Friday. \u201cOur purpose has always been \u2014 and will always be \u2014 to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infantino had proposed creating a $20 billion company to run the World Cup with private investors including the Kushner family, but drew backlash that grew every day since Tuesday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
UEFA\u2019s 55-member nations agreed to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions over Infantino\u2019s plan on Thursday. North America\u2019s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also said they opposed the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome things are simply too important to sell,\u201d UEFA said in a statement. \u201cThe FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infantino\u2019s senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned on Friday and urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,\u201d Cordeiro said in a statement, just hours after FIFA insisted: \u201cNobody is selling football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours later, FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour issued a statement to The Associated Press, saying FIFA staff were deceived by Infantino\u2019s lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months and that the project must not continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the project of one person,\u201d Lamour, a long-time colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, wrote. \u201cNot only must this project not go ahead \u2026 but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA\u2019s commercial businesses \u2014 including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women \u2014 into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.<\/p>\n
The \u201canchor investor,\u201d described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n
The next FIFA competition is the Women\u2019s Under-20 World Cup starting Sept. 5 in Poland \u2014 which UEFA members said they would boycott.<\/p>\n