FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan to create a $20 billion (€17.5 billion) company running the World Cup with private investors – including the family of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – was announced on Tuesday, and immediately attacked by European football governing body UEFA.
Infantino's plans to form a commercial subsidiary, which would be called “FIFA Forward Enterprise” (FFE), running competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup was first reported by The Times of London.
FIFA said in a statement FFE would raise up to $4.2 billion (€3.7 billion) later this year to help fund development programmes "based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests.”
FIFA is working with the New York-based JP Morgan while intended investors include Thrive Eternal launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared is married to Ivanka Trump, daughter to the US president.
The men’s World Cup that finished this month only deepened the political and personal ties between Trump and Infantino, and fuelled concerns about those ties including from UEFA.
