FIFA chief backs off bid to sell World Cup stakes to private investors after backlash

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has scrapped his controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors including Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

Facing backlash throughout the sport, a World Cup boycott from Europe and criticism from high-ranking officials inside FIFA itself, Infantino says the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise project “will not proceed.”

The news comes with the governing body releasing a statement “attributable to the FIFA President.”

“The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed,” the statement reads. “And more so, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the FIFA Member Associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA Council, the Confederations and wider stakeholders.”

“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,” says the statement.

“Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve,” it adds. “As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”

The statement ends with Infantino saying he plans to “bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks” with the goal of discussing ways to grow the sport of soccer globally.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.