FIFA faces furious backlash over plans to sell stake in competitions
FIFA is facing intense criticism from across the football world after revealing plans to create a private commercial subsidiary that would allow outside investors to buy a stake in the revenues generated by the World Cup and its other major competitions. The proposal, which blindsided many of the sport’s stakeholders, has drawn swift and unambiguous condemnation.
What exactly is FIFA proposing?
The governing body wants to spin off a new entity that would house the commercial operations of its flagship tournaments, including the expanded 48-team World Cup. Private equity firms and other investors would then be invited to purchase shares in that subsidiary, effectively giving them a cut of future revenues. FIFA earns around $11 billion per four-year World Cup cycle, so the sums involved are enormous. The idea is framed internally as a way to unlock capital for investment in football’s development worldwide. But critics aren’t buying that explanation.
Who is pushing back — and how hard?
The backlash on Wednesday was fast and fierce. European club associations, player unions, and several national federations all lined up to condemn the plan. FIFPro, the global players’ union representing over 65,000 professional footballers, called the proposal “a fundamental threat to the integrity of football governance.” The European Club Association warned that commercializing competition structures in this way could compromise sporting independence and hand profit-driven outsiders undue influence over decisions that should belong to the sport itself.
And it’s not just the usual suspects. Voices from South America and Africa — regions FIFA often points to as beneficiaries of its development funding — expressed serious alarm too.
The governance question nobody can ignore
At the heart of the controversy is a simple but uncomfortable question: who actually controls football? Critics argue that selling a financial stake in competitions to private investors, even a minority one, creates a conflict of interest that’s almost impossible to manage. Once outside shareholders have money on the table, their appetite for returns won’t always align with what’s best for the game.
That’s the fear, anyway. And given FIFA’s own turbulent history with corruption and opaque financial dealings, many stakeholders say they simply don’t trust the institution to manage such an arrangement responsibly.
A senior official at one of Europe’s leading football bodies put it bluntly: “We were not consulted, we were not warned, and we do not agree. This is not how you run a sport that belongs to everyone.”
What happens next?
FIFA hasn’t announced a formal vote or timeline yet, but the governing body is expected to push the proposal forward through its Council in the coming months. Whether Wednesday’s backlash is loud enough to force a rethink remains to be seen. Similar resistance greeted the Super League idea in 2021, and that collapsed within days.
The fight over who truly owns football — its governing bodies, its clubs, its players, or increasingly its investors — is far from over. If anything, it’s just getting started.
