GENEVA (AP) — FIFA President Gianni Infantino set a Sept. 19 deadline on Wednesday for the 211 member federations to accept one-off $20 million offers as part of a project to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors. The $20 billion FIFA subsidiary was blasted by international soccer organizations. European soccer body UEFA aims to call its 55 member federations to an emergency online meeting, likely on Thursday. The organization said “there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA’s scheme.”The effort is being bankrolled by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The effort marks Infantino’s latest effort to align with those in the orbit of Trump: by creating the FIFA peace prize, letting Trump intervene in a process that led to United States forward Folarin Balogun playing at the World Cup, and now trying to lock in Joshua Kushner’s investment firm to a 12-year ownership deal with the Switzerland-based not-for-profit soccer body.
Infantino set out the “singular and unique funding opportunity” in a letter detailing why he wants to create the $20 billion FIFA subsidiary — 20% owned by private investors — that would run the soccer body’s competitions and events like World Cups and Club World Cups.“It is my duty and responsibility as FIFA president to present such game-changing opportunities to you, our members,” Infantino wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press.
