FIFA President Infantino withdraws private investor plans after global backlash

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has withdrawn his plans to sell stakes in FIFA competitions to private investors after widespread condemnation from across the football world.

European football's governing body UEFA welcomed the news on Saturday, calling it a "victory for the whole game."

In a statement on Saturday, Infantino said: "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."

What did UEFA say about Infantino's scrapped plans?

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has lost the "confidence" of UEFA after his plan to allow private investment in the World Cup was withdrawn following a global backlash.

"The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," UEFA said, while adding that the "task of rebuilding trust in FIFA" had only just begun.

While the European body welcomed the withdrawal of a proposal unanimously rejected by itself and also by other confederations, it did not hold back in its criticism of Infantino.

UEFA said "we cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast track timescales", and that now was the time for responsible parties to come together and prevent it happening again.

"It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again," they said.

UEFA said on Thursday that its members had unanimously agreed to boycott all FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, unless the plan was withdrawn.

"The World Cup is not for sale," UEFA said.

What were FIFA chief's Infantino's private investor plans?

Infantino's proposal would have created a commercial subsidiary, the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run competitions like the World Cup, selling broadcasting and sponsorship, tickets and hospitality.

Under the plans, FIFA would sell minority stakes in FFE to private equity investors. The proposed investor consortium was to be led by "Thrive Eternal," a fund run by "Thrive Capital," which was founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US ​President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Infantino, who has faced criticism for his close ties to the US president, had asked federations to approve the measure by September 19, reportedly offering the associations $40 million (€35 million) if they backed the proposal.

Infantino's plans met with global backlash

European teams are the reigning champions of FIFA's three leading competitions, the men's and women's World Cup, and the Club World Cup.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF, which runs the sport in North America and the Caribbean, soon joined UEFA in condemning and rejecting FIFA's plans, although they stopped short of threatening a boycott.

As the opposition to Infantino's plans grew, his senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro resigned in protest on Friday.

Later on Friday, the world governing body's chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, slammed Infantino, saying the plans were "the project of one person" who had "deceived" FIFA staff.