‘Deep Concerns’—Concacaf Emphatically Rejects FIFA’s Proposal to Sell World Cup

A meeting on Thursday of the 41 member associations delivered a message to Gianni Infantino.

The FIFA president promised riches to every member association. | Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

Concacaf and its member associations outlined on Thursday a decision to reject ‘FIFA Forward Enterprise’—Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell shares in the World Cup to private investors.

Infantino wants to create a new company, valued by FIFA at $20 billion, that controls FIFA competitions—the obvious example being the men’s and women’s World Cups. But shares in that enterprise would then be sold for billions of dollars to venture capitalists like Joshua Kushner, brother of U.S. President Donaldo Trump’s son-in-law, Jared.

FIFA insists that no control of the World Cup will be passed over to investors. But the idea exploits the world’s most popular sport as a vehicle to make the rich richer and it hasn’t sat well.

FIFA is wafting huge wads of cash in front of the planet’s 211 national soccer federations, who are promised millions of dollars more in funding. There is what appears to be a $46 million (€40 million) ‘reward’ just for backing the proposal, followed by larger and larger payouts for each subsequent three-year cycle, far above what was originally projected.

Infantino set a short deadline of Sept. 19 for member associations to support the overall proposal—which itself has caused major confusion as to what it actually is—and therefore cash in.

While the wealthy nations of UEFA flatly refused to engage and threatened a blanket boycott of FIFA international competitions, many wondered how the planet’s smaller soccer federations might respond given the very obvious financial incentive.

In Concacaf, morality and integrity have prevailed.

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Concacaf Says No to FIFA, Gianni Infantino

Concacaf stands united over this issue. | Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

The North, Central American and Caribbean confederation says it is “united by the love of our game” and loyal to its principles of “service, transparent governance and the long-term stewardship of [soccer].”

A swiftly convened meeting on Thursday was attended by the presidents of all 41 Concacaf member associations, its president, council members and FIFA council members.

It explained: “During the meeting, the membership expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies.”

Concacaf also questions the need to do this at all, given that the recently concluded 2026 World Cup is officially the most profitable for FIFA there has ever been. Why bother inviting “private equity investment to fund new and existing FIFA Forward programs” against that kind of backdrop?

In addition to rejecting the proposal, Concacaf has tasked its FIFA council member with “engaging FIFA to determine how existing vast FIFA reserves could be used to increase FIFA Forward funding for football development across our region.”

There is also a message for Infantino: “... ensure that any matter follows the proper governance processes via staff and FIFA Council, in accordance with the FIFA Statutes.”

That’s a hard no.

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