"A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity"

Infantino Rejects Criticism of Investor Plan!

Gianni Infantino(Bild: AFP/ROBERTO SCHMIDT)

Despite harsh criticism of FIFA’s investor plans, Gianni Infantino refuses to acknowledge any viable alternatives to the billion-dollar project he is spearheading! In a video message, the FIFA president defended the planned involvement of external investors as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to significantly accelerate the global development of soccer.” Critics accuse him of being primarily concerned with his own personal profit and that of his business partners...

Accusations came primarily from Europe that FIFA was essentially trying to buy the approval of its member associations with lucrative special payments and had deliberately set a tight deadline for their decision—there was talk of bribery, blackmail, and a sellout of the sport. According to media reports, the member associations of the European Football Union will discuss FIFA’s plans at an emergency meeting later today, Thursday.

“Part of a Democratic Process”
Infantino responded with the video to the storm of outrage that he himself had sparked with his speculative ideas. He countered the accusations and, in the video message, initially described the investor plans as a proposal that was “part of a democratic process.” After all, a majority of FIFA’s 211 member associations, as well as the FIFA Council, would have to approve it first. However, it already seems clear that, aside from the opposition from Europe—which the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) also supports—smaller member nations in particular are likely to support the idea, simply because they hope for a significant increase in revenue.

Infantino puts it this way: “Too little of soccer’s growing commercial value is reaching the parts of the game that need it most.” To tap into this value, he says, “additional expertise” is needed. In any case, he can reassure the fans: “The sport they follow and love will not change.”

Critics fear more tournaments and more commercialization
However, many critics are not buying these assurances. Less than two weeks after the World Cup final in the U.S., they see their fears confirmed that FIFA, by selling a portion of its commercial rights to competitions, is allowing the sport to finally degenerate into a pawn of investors. The logic behind this: Even more tournaments with even more teams and games would boost revenue and profits, thereby also increasing the value of the previously sold stakes.

Under the proposed deal, private investors would be able to acquire approximately 20 percent of the shares in a newly established subsidiary called FFE (FIFA Forward Enterprise), whose value is initially set at a total of $20 billion. FFE would consolidate the commercial rights to FIFA competitions such as the Men’s and Women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup. With this move, Infantino could also become CEO of the new company after serving another term as president, thereby continuing to wield significant influence within the FIFA universe even after 15 years in office.

The natural next step?
The Swiss official held out the prospect that, with investor support and through the “FIFA Fast Forward Program,” every member association could multiply its revenue. Infantino argued that, since FIFA had fundamentally transformed its competitions—among other things—over the past decade, it must now follow through financially: “Strengthening the commercial side of soccer is the natural next step in this development.”