FIFA insists "nobody is selling football" despite massive opposition

UEFA reacted sharply after plans for the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) first surfaced in The Times and Financial Times on Tuesday.

Less than 48 hours later, all 55 UEFA member associations declared they would not participate in any FIFA tournament until the global federation withdrew its proposal. In addition to UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF (North America) also criticized the investment plans.

"We have registered the feedback from individual confederations regarding the proposed establishment of FIFA Forward Enterprise and would like to respond to the questions that arose after the initial media reports on Tuesday," DPA quoted from a FIFA statement released on Friday morning.

"We respect the publicly expressed comments and concerns and reaffirm our commitment to open and democratic consultation. Our planned consultation process was disrupted by inaccurate media reports. We will continue with it so that every member association has the opportunity to vote based on facts," the statement continued.

"FFE was designed solely to give all FIFA member associations the opportunity to significantly participate in the commercial potential of football in their countries, without compromising FIFA's values, governance, or the sport itself. Nobody is selling football. FIFA would never consider such a thing," declared the federation, whose president Gianni Infantino reportedly offered each association $20 million if the proposal passed.

An investment group led by Thrive Eternal, founded by Joshua Kushner – brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law to US President Donald Trump – is reportedly awaiting a minority stake in the new company.

However, the promised high returns for national associations, if FFE were established, would likely be unattainable if the men's and women's World Cups proceeded without European participation. This would hold true even if Infantino managed to secure majority support for the project.

European and global leagues are also opposing the plans. They fear that commercial interests would lead FIFA to organize larger and more frequent tournaments, further disrupting domestic league calendars.

FIFA also faced accusations of coercion when it asked associations to approve the FFE proposal by September 19. At the same time, it offered associations willing to join the project up to $40 million in development funding until the 2030 World Cup.