Fifa president Gianni Infantino has abandoned plans to attract private investment into the governing body’s major competitions after widespread opposition from football associations and senior officials.
Infantino said the proposal had “created divisions” which were “no longer in the interest” of its original purpose.
“As a result, this proposal will not proceed,” the Swiss official added.
The plan would have offered each of Fifa’s 211 member associations $40m (£30m) if they supported private investment in tournaments including the men’s and women’s World Cups.
Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), welcomed the decision to withdraw the proposal.
“The future of global football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our game,” said Shaikh Salman.
The decision follows mounting resistance from football’s continental confederations. Uefa’s 55 member associations voted on Thursday to boycott the World Cup if Fifa proceeded with the plans.
Fifa chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the organisation’s own administration had been “deceived” about the project.
Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s senior adviser for global strategy and governance, resigned in protest. He described the proposal as “a bad deal for football” that would “mortgage football’s future”.
Concacaf, the confederation responsible for football in North, Central America and the Caribbean, also said its members had “rejected” the plan. The region is hosting this summer’s World Cup, while sources said the vast majority of its associations were losing, or had lost, faith in Infantino.
The AFC said it stood in “solidarity” with Uefa and Concacaf. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham also said Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead Fifa.
The setback places further pressure on 56-year-old Infantino as he seeks election for a fourth term as Fifa president at the organisation’s Congress in March.
In announcing the withdrawal, Infantino said he wanted to “bring all interested parties back together” in the “spirit of shared interest” in football.
Why the proposal was unlikely to pass
Fifa initially insisted on Friday that the plans would continue despite opposition from Uefa and Concacaf, saying “nobody is selling football”.
However, the proposal required the support of a majority of Fifa’s 211 members, meaning at least 106 associations would have needed to vote in favour.
That threshold became increasingly difficult to reach after the AFC joined Uefa and Concacaf in opposing the plan. Uefa has 55 votes, Concacaf has 35 and Asia has 46.
If every association followed the position of its confederation, 136 nations would have voted against the proposal.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) had said they would discuss Fifa’s plans in August.
South American governing body Conmebol had asked Fifa for “additional information and clarifications” about the “scope, structure, governance and possible effects” of the proposals.
What Fifa had proposed
Fifa and Infantino wanted to establish a commercial subsidiary to operate the organisation’s principal events, including the World Cup, with external investors able to buy stakes in the new company.
The governing body said it would “invite third parties to make minority, non-controlling investments” in Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE).
Infantino gave football federations until 19 September to accept the plan if they wanted access to an initial $20m (£15m).
A 25-page document prepared by investment bank JP Morgan outlined how Fifa’s tournaments could be expanded to produce an estimated payout of 24m euros (£20.5m) for each member association during the 2035-39 cycle.
The document referred to “new business initiatives” and “attracting top talent with incentive-driven compensation”. It described the World Cup as the “most widely viewed” sporting event, while saying Fifa itself was “under-monetised”.
The document did not mention the women’s game.
Fifa said Thrive Eternal was expected to lead the proposed investment group for FFE. Thrive is an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.
Trump addressed the proposal for the first time on Friday and said he had not discussed it with Infantino. The pair have developed a close relationship since Trump returned to office for a second time in 2025.
Infantino’s position under pressure
Infantino became Fifa president in 2016 after defeating AFC president Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa by 115 votes to 88.
Fifa’s next president will be confirmed at the organisation’s 77th Congress in Morocco next March. Candidates have until 18 November to declare their intention to stand.
Before the dispute over the investment proposal, Infantino had been expected to win re-election unopposed. Associations in several parts of the world, including some in Europe, had already said they planned to support him.
It is now unclear whether the events of the past week will lead to a large number of those associations withdrawing their backing.
Infantino said the proposal had been intended to strengthen member associations, “especially in countries where support is most needed”.
“Our purpose has always been – and always will be – to unite and improve,” he added.
But the plan exposed divisions within Fifa. Cordeiro, who represented the world governing body on the White House taskforce for the 2026 World Cup, is the first senior Fifa official to resign over the issue.
In a lengthy statement, Cordeiro said he “unequivocally” opposed the proposal and did not accept the argument that Fifa needed outside investors to “unlock greater value”. He also said he had played no part in developing the plan.
It is understood that some of Fifa’s eight vice-presidents were also not told about Infantino’s proposal, which was claimed to have the potential to raise $10bn (£7.5bn).
Lamour described it as “the project of one person” and said: “a president must bring people together, unite them, and inspire them” but that the proposal represented “the opposite”.
“If that means I lose my job, then so be it,” he added. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”
