Gianni Infantino is throwing out his plans to commercialize the World Cup with outside investors.
First reported by Sky Sports, the FIFA boss said on Friday that his $20 billion vision of FIFA Forward Enterprise will not move forward in its current form.
“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” Infantino said. “Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.
“Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, and particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”
FIFA and Thrive Eternal, the holding company of Joshua Kushner that was set to lead the 20% stake in FIFA Forward Enterprise, did not return requests for comment.
The New York Post first reported the news that the plan was off. Sky Sports was the first to report it straight from FIFA.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
