Infantino's FFE partner regrets getting involved with World Cup sale plan

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FT Desk

Josh Kushner, the investment partner behind FIFA's planned sale of World Cup shares to private equity, says he regrets becoming involved in the proposals.

The FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) was designed as a new commercial company that would manage the commercial interests of FIFA’s biggest competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup. FIFA valued the proposed company at approximately $20 billion and planned to sell a 20% stake to private investors, which could have raised around $4.2 billion.

Those investors, Thrive Capital, would have had a say in when and where the World Cup would be held and there were concerns that more financially profitable areas like North America would be favoured in the future.

Live latest from Monaco as UEFA prepares criminal proceedings against Infantino in Switzerland over the World Cup venture pic.twitter.com/q9P96GFd8d

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) August 27, 2026

The additional revenue was intended to allow FIFA to increase its football-development distributions to more than $10 billion, potentially providing member associations with substantially greater funding.

However, the proposal triggered a major backlash. UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC argued that FIFA was attempting to commercialise and partially privatise the commercial rights to the World Cup without sufficient consultation or the necessary governance approval.

Kushner has now acknowledged that "we failed to appreciate the political dynamics of global football."

"Had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved," he added to Axios.

"The idea behind [the project] was to direct more capital and equity equally amongst all 211 member countries, providing significantly more investment to underdeveloped nations to nurture local talent, support grassroots football, enhance the fan experience, and ultimately grow the global game everywhere.

"Thrive has a long track record of being a partner to all constituents."

Last week, it was confirmed that UEFA are officially pursuing criminal legal proceedings against Gianni Infantino and Thrive Capital over his failed FFE proposals.

BBC Sport reports that UEFA have made an application to see all evidence relating to the FFE proposals from Infantino and FIFA.

The applications reads: "On July 28, 2026, without consulting the Fifa Council, Uefa, or any of the other confederations, or any of the 211 Fifa member associations, Infantino, purportedly acting on behalf of Fifa, publicly announced a plan to place the commercial rights to the men's and women's World Cups and the Club World Cup into a new subsidiary: Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE).

"That announcement by Infantino was the public unveiling of a plan that he and a small circle of co-conspirators had conceived and reportedly been developing in secret for more than a year."