Gianni Infantino has not withdrawn a single figure. FIFA’s president told the world on Wednesday that the $4.2 billion plan to sell minority stakes in a World Cup subsidiary is merely a “proposal”, but the entity, the target sum and the September deadline all remain on the table.
Speaking in a video statement carried by Al Jazeera hours after Bayern Munich’s Max Eberl branded the proposal “shameful,” Infantino framed the initiative as a consultation that federations could accept or reject.
“It’s part of a democratic process, a consultation process, and, above all, it is an opportunity but not an obligation, and, as I said, it kicks off the consultation process,” Infantino said.
“FIFA obviously continues to govern football without any external interference,” he added, promising that “the flagship tournament it organises, like the FIFA World Cup or the FIFA Women’s World Cup, will always remain.”
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What Infantino left untouched
Nothing in the video addressed the substance of the revolt. The $20 billion subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, still exists on paper. So does the target of a 20% minority sale worth up to $4.2 billion, and so does the reported involvement of Thrive Eternal, the Joshua Kushner-founded venture firm named as the lead bidder. Federations still face a September 19 deadline to accept one-off $20 million payments tied to the plan.
Infantino was also silent on the parallel proposal to expand the 2030 tournament to 64 teams, an idea CONMEBOL floated in April 2025 and one FIFA said this month it would review after the current 48-team edition.
UEFA: ‘Not FIFA’s to sell’
The pushback from Europe has been unusually direct. UEFA said the proposal “crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross” and warned that “the soul and governance of football are not assets to trade, especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially.”
“None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell,” the governing body added.
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UEFA member associations are meeting virtually this week, with a boycott of FIFA competitions among the options being weighed.
Eberl: ‘It stinks to high heavens’
Bayern Munich’s board member for sport delivered the sharpest club-level intervention. Standing at a Rottach-Egern press event to unveil new signing Nathaniel Brown on Wednesday, Max Eberl said the plan had left him personally embarrassed.
“I find it shameful. It’s shameful that we’re even talking about such ideas,” Eberl told reporters, in comments reported by Get German Football News.
“Right now, I get the feeling that FIFA is only there to make a profit.”
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“I don’t know who’s feeding Mr. Infantino these ideas, but it stinks to high heavens.”
Hans-Joachim Watzke, the DFB vice-president and Borussia Dortmund president who also sits on UEFA’s executive committee, was similarly blunt. Speaking to Kicker, Watzke called the plan “an outright attack on football” and said “a line has been crossed here.”
Infantino’s video reframes the tone. It does not change the paperwork. The September 19 deadline is the next test of whether federations treat “proposal” as an opening or a closing offer.
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