Nobody is selling football – FIFA to continue consultation on investor plan despite UEFA’s vote to boycott

FIFA has vowed to continue with the controversial plan to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors.

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This comes after UEFA, the body that governs European football, voted on Thursday to boycott World Cups if the plan proceeded.

Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and hosted this year’s World Cup, said its 41 member associations also “rejected” the proposal made by Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Fifa oversees world football, and Infantino would need 106 of its 211 members to vote in favour for the proposal to go through. Uefa and Concacaf members combined make up 96 of those votes.

In a statement released on Friday, Fifa claimed the consultation process had been “disrupted by incorrect media reports”.

“We respect the feedback and concern aired in public and reaffirm our commitment to an open and democratic consultation,” the statement read.

“We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA (member association) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.

“Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.”

FIFA is pushing to create a $20bn subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the World Cup and its other events, with a stake of up to 20% to be offered to external investors.

Thrive Eternal, a fund run by Joshua Kushner-founded Thrive Capital, is expected to lead the proposed investor group, FIFA said. Joshua is the brother of Jared Kushner, United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.