FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s latest move has pushed the sport to a breaking point. The plan to sell off part of the World Cup to a private company backed by the Trump family has European football executives privately discussing a boycott of the tournament, according to multiple sources familiar with the internal talks.
The proposal is straightforward on paper but devastating in its implications. Infantino wants to create a private entity that would control FIFA’s competitions, essentially converting the World Cup from a global public trust into a profit-generating asset. Josh Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, is in discussions to be a lead investor. The connection isn’t lost on anyone inside the sport’s power circles.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter posted what many are thinking: “The close relationship between the FIFA president and the US president has reached a financial dimension that is deeply damaging football.” Blatter is a complicated messenger given his own history, but his read of the room is accurate.
What’s infuriating stakeholders more than the money itself is the Kushner element, according to people in the room. There’s a sense that Infantino’s long courtship of Donald Trump was always going to end here — with the family looking for a piece of the action.
Why European federations could actually walk away
England, Spain, Germany and France could kill this proposal overnight if they unified. They have the leverage. They host the biggest leagues and generate most of the revenue FIFA depends on. But none of them — including FA vice-president Debbie Hewitt — knew about the plan until media reports broke. Now there’s pressure on every federation to go on the record.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and a genuine football fan, was one of the first political figures to speak up. He called the plan out as a direct attack on the game’s integrity. That sets up a clash between the new UK government and the Trump circle, but for Burnham it’s a point of principle. The last time the British government intervened this directly in football was the European Super League fiasco.
FIFA’s non-profit status is now the question nobody’s answering
Here’s the legal problem FIFA hasn’t addressed. Under Swiss law, FIFA operates as a not-for-profit association. That status depends on the organization serving the public interest, not maximizing shareholder value. If the World Cup gets privatized, that justification evaporates. Lawyer Antoine Duval pointed out that FIFA’s commercial practices are tolerated under EU competition law precisely because they contribute to fulfilling public interests. Change that and the whole house of cards wobbles.
From a purely business perspective, it’s even stranger. FIFA owns the most valuable sports property in the world. The World Cup only increases in value over time. Selling pieces of it now, when there’s no debt and no financial pressure, makes no sense unless you’re trying to reward specific people with specific connections.
UEFA has put out another strong statement opposing the plan, though critics note UEFA itself started down this road when it restructured the Champions League to be run as a commercial enterprise alongside the European Club Association. There’s some pot-and-kettle energy here. But UEFA leadership and the ECA are both exploring legal and political challenges.
Nobody knows what happens next
Infantino will likely avoid facing angry fans until the 2030 World Cup. That’s a long time to let this controversy simmer. By then, who knows what the tournament even looks like. The one thing everyone seems to agree on: not a single football fan on earth wants this. The federations that claim to represent those fans now have to decide if they mean it.
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