FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a red card as he meets with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
Gianni Infantino has scrapped his plan to sell a slice of the World Cup to private investors, backing down barely 72 hours after the proposal leaked and set off a revolt inside soccer's governing body, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The FIFA president announced Friday that FIFA Forward Enterprise would not proceed, saying the project had created divisions no longer in the interest of the sport.
“Having listened carefully to all the views,” Infantino said, “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.”
The plan would have raised $4.2 billion at a roughly $20 billion valuation by selling about 20 percent of a new commercial arm, with a one-time payment of $20 million dangled to each of FIFA's 211 member federations.
The lead investor lined up for the deal was Thrive Eternal, a vehicle founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, a link that had already drawn Democratic scrutiny before the reversal.
UEFA's 55 members voted unanimously Thursday to boycott all FIFA competitions if the sale went through, a walkout that would have sidelined powers like Spain, France and England from the men's and women's World Cups. The confederations for Asia and for North America and the Caribbean also rejected the plan.
The pressure reached Infantino's inner circle, with senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, a former U.S. Soccer president who sat on the White House task force for the World Cup, resigning in protest. FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who did not step down, said staff had been deceived by the secretive plan.
Trump, whose earlier phone call pushing FIFA to reverse a red card had fueled questions about his closeness to Infantino, distanced himself Friday. Asked at Camp David whether the FIFA boss had consulted him on the sale, the president told reporters, "No, I never spoke to him."