FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, and the backlash has been swift.

The plan, officially announced on 28 July 2026, would see FIFA create a new commercial subsidiary valued at $20 billion to run the World Cup and other major events. FIFA would then sell minority, non-controlling stakes of up to 20% in that subsidiary to private investors — among them Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared, as first reported by the Telegraph and confirmed by Reuters (Reuters).

In a letter sent to every national federation, Infantino framed the proposal as a straightforward trade. "In exchange, all that is required is your trust — everything else remains the same," he wrote, according to the BBC (BBC Sport). The decision on whether to proceed, Infantino stressed in the same letter, belongs entirely to the federations themselves.

The money is substantial. FIFA says it intends to expand football development funding to $10 billion, financed through what it calls "FFE's planned initial capital raise" of up to $4.2 billion (FIFA). The proportion earmarked for national federations would become available from 1 January 2027, per the BBC. FIFA, registered as a non-profit organisation under Swiss law, is positioning this as a way to channel more cash into the grassroots of the global game.

Not everyone is convinced. The Football Association has joined UEFA in condemning the plan, and Concacaf — the governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean — has added its voice to the criticism (The Guardian). Reuters reports that the push has opened a new front in a decades-old power struggle between FIFA and European football bodies (Reuters).

The concern, laid out in BBC analysis, is straightforward: if FIFA sells stakes now, private investors will share in the rewards of football's future growth rather than FIFA and the sport keeping those gains to themselves (BBC Sport). A Breakingviews commentary in Reuters went further, examining the fit between FIFA's non-profit structure and private equity's profit-driven model (Reuters).

For context, Infantino declared after the 2026 World Cup — the first to feature 48 teams — that it had "destroyed every record" (FIFA). He has spoken since early 2025 about wanting to "unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has" (FIFA). This plan is the clearest expression yet of that ambition.

For fans, the headline question is simple. The World Cup has always belonged, in theory, to every member association that makes up FIFA. If private money takes a seat at the table, who does the tournament ultimately serve? The federations hold the vote, and the vote has not yet been called.