Global football’s governing body Fifa has triggered a major backlash from European football’s top regulator Uefa after unveiling controversial plans to open up its commercial and event operations to third-party private investment, a move that has thrown the future governance of the sport into question. The plan, first broken by the *Financial Times* and *The Times*, centers on creating a new Fifa-owned subsidiary called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), which will offer minority non-controlling stakes to outside investors. Fifa says the core goal of the initiative is to grow its total football development funding to more than $10 billion, with every member association set to access up to $20 million in one-off capital for grassroots and regional development projects.
If approved, the investment round is expected to be led by Thrive Eternal, a United States-based venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner — brother of Jared Kushner, former US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor. Early reporting from *The Times* raised questions about potential personal financial gains for Fifa president Gianni Infantino, claiming the plans could earn him tens of millions of pounds. But Fifa sources have denied any suggestion that Infantino or any other senior leader is in line to take the chief executive role at the new subsidiary, while the organisation has only confirmed that Infantino and Fifa’s leadership retain a duty to oversee the project’s development, declining to outline the exact scope of his involvement.
In his official comments on the plan, Infantino framed the move as a push for equitable growth across global football. “Parts of the game have turned that popularity into remarkable commercial value — and we celebrate that success and want it to continue, because it lifts the whole game,” he said. “Our job is to make sure the rest of football grows with it: Fifa exists to support sustainable, inclusive development in every corner of the world.” He added that Fifa’s model mirrors the private investment structures already adopted by governing bodies in other major sports, pointing to examples like 2018 partnership between Premiership Rugby and investment firm CVC Capital Partners.
But Uefa has rejected that comparison, issuing a scathing public statement that accuses Fifa of crossing a fundamental red line for the sport. The European regulator argues the plan opens the door to Fifa expanding the size and frequency of its international competitions to drive higher revenue, a shift that would directly threaten the commercial viability of Uefa’s own highly lucrative club and international tournaments. “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” Uefa said in its statement. “Uefa takes it extremely seriously. So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder who cares about the future of the game. 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.”
Fifa has pushed back on Uefa’s concerns, emphasizing that it will retain full control of FFE and hold exclusive authority over all core football-related decisions, including competition structure, the international match calendar, governance rules, and regulatory matters. The proposal will first be discussed at the upcoming Fifa Council meeting this autumn, and will later be taken up during the Fifa Intercontinental Cup in December. A final vote by all 211 Fifa member associations is scheduled for the Fifa Congress in Morocco next March, where the future of the controversial plan will be decided.