After FIFA’s decision earlier this month to delay a one-game red-card suspension for U.S. player Folarin Balogun — which followed a phone call between Donald Trump and the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino — you might have wondered if the soccer group’s leadership carves out an hour each day to devise new and inventive ways to look corrupt, or at least one 45-minute all-hands call a week that no one can miss. Given FIFA’s latest proposal to team up with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell stakes in the World Cup to wealthy investors for billions of dollars, an hour a day seems plausible, if not an understatement!
FIFA revealed on Tuesday that it intends to form FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a subsidiary of the governing body that would control commercial-event operations, including future men’s and women’s World Cups. The subsidiary would be funded by investors that include Thrive Eternal, an investment vehicle owned by First Son-in-law Jared Kushner’s brother, Josh Kushner. Thrive would reportedly “leverage its own investment by courting long-term institutional investors from around the world … relying principally on sovereign wealth funds,” according to Politico. FIFA said Tuesday that it plans to raise up to $4.2 billion this year, giving FFE an equity valuation of $20 billion.
