Name: How FIFA’s $20 Billion Private-Equity Plan Nearly Broke Soccer
Uploaded: 2026-08-06T16:00:00Z
Duration: 4 min 51 s
Description: WSJ's Rachel Bachman explains how FIFA President Gianni Infantino created a crisis for the soccer federation—just weeks after a successful and lucrative World Cup in North America.

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WSJ's Rachel Bachman explains how FIFA President Gianni Infantino created a crisis for the soccer federation—just weeks after a successful and lucrative World Cup in North America. Photo: Johnny Fidelin/IconSport-FR/ZUMA Press

https://m.wsj.net/video/20260806/1d6a99b4-1fa0-4681-97bc-d2593c6ae118/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

WSJ's Rachel Bachman explains how FIFA President Gianni Infantino created a crisis for the soccer federation—just weeks after a successful and lucrative World Cup in North America.

How FIFA’s $20 Billion Private-Equity Plan Nearly Broke Soccer

It was the most lucrative World Cup in history, but FIFA soon found itself in a crisis.

FIFA is arguably the most powerful sports federation in the world, and this proposal rocked it to its foundations.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino faced a global backlash after a proposal to commercialize future tournaments backfired.

Breaking news now because FIFA President Gianni Infantino says that he is scrapping plans to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors.

So what's next for FIFA? In late July, FIFA unveiled a proposal for the FIFA Forward Enterprise. Under the plan, FIFA would spin off the commercial rights to its major tournaments into a private company.

So FIFA's commercial rights include mainly broadcast rights and sponsorship rights. And so whoever controls those rights can stand to make a lot of money as their value increases.

Then it would sell a roughly 20% stake to an investor group led by Thrive Capital for $4.2 billion. Thrive is run by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. This new private venture would be valued at $20 billion. Also, FIFA's proposal offered each of its 211 member associations up to $40 million in extra funding over the next four years.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he merely wants to share more of the international soccer wealth with every country that FIFA governs. He also wanted to strike when the iron is hot.

FIFA is projecting that the 2026 World Cup generated $15 billion in revenue, exceeding its initial estimate of $11 billion.

By all means, this World Cup has exceeded all expectations.

And once that plan became public, all hell broke loose.

Absolutely shameless. There's just a naked, obvious sense of greed from one person.

The Union of European Football Associations has told Infantino to go UEFA yourself.

Europe's soccer governing body called an emergency meeting. All 55 member nations unanimously voted to boycott FIFA competitions. That would've included the next World Cup.

We've been pushed into this by a proposal that was so damaging, it could have dismantled the whole infrastructure of the game.

The soccer confederations of North and Central America and the Caribbean and Asia soon joined in rejecting the proposal.

This debate quickly shifted to the question of who owns soccer. And many leaders around the world are saying FIFA does not own soccer. It's not FIFA's to sell.

Just days after FIFA unveiled the proposal, one of Infantino's key advisors resigned. He wrote that he opposed the plan unequivocally, and that it was a bad deal for FIFA's member associations, football, and the long-term future of the game. Other FIFA officials distanced themselves from the plan.

Now, FIFA has acknowledged the backlash it's gotten over this saying, "Nobody is selling football."

Following the backlash, FIFA canceled the plan, and senior executives reaffirmed their full support for Infantino after an emergency meeting. FIFA said in a letter to member associations that there are always lessons to be learned, and FIFA will continue to improve its processes in light of this experience. FIFA made some big changes to the 2026 World Cup.

This was the most commercialized World Cup in history. It had hydration breaks, it had a halftime show, and it had the highest ticket prices by a wide margin in history. And that was mainly because FIFA used dynamic pricing.

The success emboldened Infantino to further monetize tournaments, but the opposition has been swift and strong.

I do not believe that he is the right man to lead football forward on the world stage. Certainly, I don't have confidence in Mr. Infantino after this point.

Infantino is set to run unopposed for reelection in 2027. Several soccer associations have officially withdrawn their support for Infantino. FIFA presidents need a simple majority, or 106 votes to be elected.

There have been other sports that have had private equity investment. This is not new, but the difference with soccer is the soccer world really does feel like the game belongs to everybody. The outrage in this whole controversy came from the notion that FIFA owned football, and that it could sell part of it off. And the public has really responded with its feeling that absolutely not. FIFA does not have ownership of football to sell, and that the game belongs to everybody.