FIFA | Pakistan

Gianni Infantino’s position as FIFA president looks untenable following his failed plan to sell a stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights, the head of Europe’s professional football leagues said on Sunday. Claudius Schaefer, whose organisation represents 53 professional men’s and women’s football leagues, said there could be “only one consequence” for Infantino after his plan triggered a storm of protest from regional associations. “When I saw how this whole thing unfolded and that FIFA’s key bodies weren’t involved, then there’s essentially only one consequence in any company or association,” Schaefer told Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung. Asked if this meant that Infantino was now unacceptable as FIFA president, Schaefer said: “This is usually the consequence when someone in a company pushes such a business deal forward without anyone knowing about it.” Infantino said on Friday that FIFA had scrapped the plan after a widespread backlash. Regional confederations UEFA and CONCACAF said on Saturday they had ...

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Saturday he has scrapped a plan to allow private investment in the World Cup following fierce backlash from football officials worldwide. “Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve,” Infantino said in a statement. “As a result, this proposal will not proceed.” FIFA, world football’s governing body, had floated the plan on Tuesday, saying it could raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20bn for a new FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a commercial subsidiary it proposed to run events such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. It said that, if approved, the project could provide each of FIFA’s 211 member associations with a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and increase their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20m. The Asian Football Confederation, which represents 47 member nations, welcomed the plan’s withdrawal on Saturday. Any initiative that may impact global football should be “presented and ...

UEFA threatened to boycott the World Cup if FIFA went ahead

European football’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday it would boycott the World Cup should FIFA press ahead with its private investor plan. “No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” UEFA said in a statement. “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product … No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.” FIFA, football’s world governing body, on Tuesday announced plans to create a commercial subsidiary to run its biggest events, such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. Under the proposal, private investors would be allowed to acquire stakes in the company but would remain minority shareholders, FIFA said. The governing body hopes to raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for the FIF...

Reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the WC and other ​FIFA competitions to private investors

FIFA said Tuesday it plans to sell a stake in the business operations of the World Cup and its other competitions through the creation of a semi-private subsidiary. World football’s governing body said it would retain a majority share in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) but hoped to raise $4.2 billion later this year by “carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests”. FIFA’s statement was a rapid response to a story in British newspaper The Times based on leaks of the plan from two sources. The Times reported that FIFA president Gianni Infantino, 56, stood to profit from the scheme by becoming commissioner of the FFE after his expected next term expires in 2031. The article also said discussion had started with potential investors. It named Joshua Kushner, brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, as well as an arm of JP Morgan Chase, the US bank that attempted to finance the failed breakaway European Super League. European football’s governing body ...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review a red-card foul against USA striker Folarin Balogun and that he did not think the foul, called by the “horrible” referee, was fair. “All I did, I asked for a review, because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The unprecedented move has thrust FIFA’s disciplinary process into the global spotlight and prompted an angry response from Belgium, who play the US on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Trump said the incident that got Balogun the red card was simply a case of two athletes colliding and he raised questions about the fairness of the referee who called the foul. “I saw the play,” Trump said. “That wasn’t a foul. That wasn’t even an infraction. That was two guys running whole speed that happened to crash into each other. “These were two great athletes that got tangled up, and this referee, who, is a little bit suspect if you check his past … very susp...

The United States World Cup campaign took an extraordinary turn on Sunday when FIFA made the unprecedented decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s automatic red-card ban, clearing the striker to face Belgium in Monday’s last-16 clash after US President Donald Trump personally urged FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the case. The move thrust FIFA’s disciplinary process into the global spotlight, prompted an angry response from Belgium and ensured that one of this tournament’s biggest talking points would centre not on tactics or team selection, but on the relationship between football’s governing body and political power. Within minutes, the decision had ignited one of the tournament’s biggest media storms, dominating sports bulletins and talk shows as pundits, commentators and former players argued over whether FIFA had upheld justice or undermined its own rules. As questions mounted over the circumstances surrounding the decision, FIFA did not respond to multiple Reuters requests for comment about the ...

Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron claimed an unwanted piece of football history on Friday after becoming the first player to be sent off for covering his mouth during an on-field confrontation under new FIFA rules. Former Newcastle player Almiron was given his marching orders in first half stoppage time after covering his mouth while he appeared to direct a comment at Turkiye’s Mert Muldur during the two teams’ World Cup Group D game in Santa Clara, California. Paraguay were leading 1-0 when Almiron was dismissed following a VAR review. FIFA announced in April that players who cover their mouths in confrontations with opponents will be given a red card. The initiative being rolled out at the World Cup is part of a broader effort to combat racism, FIFA has said. The new rule follows controversy earlier this year when Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni was accused of racially abusing Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during a Champions League game in February. Prestianni denied racially abusing Vinicius but was later ba...

Palestine Football Association reported allegations of discrimination by the IFA to FIFA

US President Donald Trump said he was not attending the draw for the 2026 World Cup to receive a prize, but he got one anyway. Trump, who has campaigned aggressively this year for a Nobel Peace Prize, was given FIFA’s inaugural peace prize for his efforts to promote dialogue and de-escalation in some of the world’s hotspots. Amid TV cameras and flashbulbs from the international press, Trump dominated the scene at Washington’s Kennedy Center on Friday, placing himself squarely at the center of one of the biggest events in the sporting world. The United States, along with Canada and Mexico, will host the soccer tournament next year. The prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, and the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, were there, too, but it was all Trump’s show. “This will be unique, this will be stellar, this will be spectacular,” Gianni Infantino, the gregarious president of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, said at the opening of the ceremony, talking about next year’s games. But he could have been ...

FIFA president urges peace and unity amid growing calls to suspend Israel over the conflict