UEFA calls emergency meeting on FIFA World Cup stake sale
European football authorities are mobilising against a FIFA plan to sell a 20% stake in the World Cup to private investors, warning the secretive deal threatens the sport's financial governance.
UEFA will hold a virtual emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon to coordinate a response to FIFA's proposal to sell a 20% stake in its competitions to private finance. The move, led by the Thrive Eternal investment vehicle owned by Joshua Kushner, has triggered a fierce institutional backlash across the continent.
FIFA has given its 211 member associations until 19 September to accept the deal or lose out on the first $20m of an initial $40m payout. UEFA criticised the ultimatum as coercive. "We have learned of Fifa's deadline to associations to support their proposals or have the one-off payout offer withdrawn," UEFA said. "This says everything you need to know about this plan."
The controversy exposes a deep rift over how football's growing commercial value is distributed. FIFA justified the privatisation in an eight-page document, arguing "too little of football's growing commercial value has reached the parts of the game that need it most". It pointed to private investment models used by Formula 1, La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, though questions have been raised about the auditing of money FIFA already distributes.
Three of the 2026 World Cup semi-finalists belong to UEFA's 55 members, giving the European body significant leverage. While a boycott remains the outer edge of possibility, it would severely damage the financial viability of a privatised tournament. Hans-Joachim Watzke, vice-president of the German Football Association, said: "If European football stands united against these plans, that carries a great deal of weight."
The opposition extends beyond Europe, with Asian, South American and North and Central American confederations also expressing unease. La Liga president Javier Tebas accused FIFA president Gianni Infantino of using development funds to secure votes ahead of the March congress. "It doesn't seem like a reform. It seems like an electoral campaign financed with the future of football," Tebas said. "Infantino is not the solution to Fifa's governance. He is the problem."
Infantino defended the proposals in a video on Wednesday, calling them "a golden opportunity to turbocharge the development of the game globally". He insisted the deal was "an offer, not an obligation" and promised investors would "absolutely not" have any influence over the World Cup.
The European Leagues organisation branded the plan "a reckless and divisive development", stating: "The World Cup should not be for sale. It is not the Fifa president's private equity asset." Global players' union Fifpro warned the project "would fundamentally and irreversibly reshape the incentives underpinning the competitions" and criticised that it was "developed largely behind closed doors".
Not all European members are opposed to the financing model. Czech Republic FA president David Trunda stated: "We can see the pragmatic benefits for Czech football."
