Asian Football Chief Also Welcomes FIFA's Scrapped World Cup Plan

The President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, has welcomed FIFA's decision to abandon its plans to sell stakes in the World Cup. He emphasized the need for all future initiatives of this nature to be discussed transparently. UEFA also approved of the world governing body's withdrawal from this intention.

FIFA's plan was to raise up to $4.2 billion by selling an approximately 20% stake to private investors in a new entity that would manage FIFA's events, including the World Cup—the largest sporting event globally. The proposal, first announced on Tuesday, faced fierce opposition from regional confederations, individual nations, leading world politicians, football legends, as well as UEFA, CONCACAF, and the AFC, who stated they were blindsided by the move.

Following the sharp backlash from all sides, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced early this morning that the world football federation had cancelled the plans after having "listened carefully to all opinions." In a letter published on the AFC website, Sheikh Salman expressed his expectation that "any initiative with the potential to impact world football must be presented and discussed with the confederations, the FIFA Council, member associations, and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent, and meaningful manner." He stated, "The future of world football must always be shaped through proper consultation, collective dialogue, and respect for the established governance structures of our sport."

Two days prior, he had sent another letter to the nations in the Asian region, explaining that FIFA's course of action "on this matter is completely unacceptable."