Zurich: FIFA President Gianni Infantino is abandoning his divisive plan to sell a stake in FIFA's commercial business after receiving pushback from all corners of the football world.
Infantino's decision came after his senior adviser who sat on a White House panel resigned and Asia's football body joined Europe and North America in opposing it.
“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 in a statement on Friday. “Our purpose has always been and will always be to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”
Infantino had proposed creating a $20 billion commercial entity, with plans to sell around a 20 per cent stake to private investors and raise about $4.2 billion. The entity would manage FIFA events, including the World Cup. The plan drew backlash that grew every day since Tuesday's announcement.
UEFA's 55-member nations agreed to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions over Infantino's plan on Thursday. North America's CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also said they opposed the plan.
“Some things are simply too important to sell,” UEFA said in a statement. “The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”
Infantino's senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented the football body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned on Friday with immediate effect, calling the proposal “a bad deal for football”.
FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour also criticised the plan, saying staff had been “deceived” by Infantino and describing the proposed sale as “the project of one person”.
“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement, just hours after FIFA insisted: “Nobody is selling football.”
(with inputs from AP via PTI and ANI)