FIFA plan for Kushner-backed $20 billion operation to run World Cup meets fury from Europe’s UEFA

 

President Donald Trump, left, speaks with FIFA President Gianni Infantino as confetti falls after the conclusion of the 2026 World Cup final.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

GenevaAP —  

FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan to create a $20 billion company running the World Cup with private investors, including the Kushner family, was announced Tuesday — and immediately attacked by European soccer body UEFA.

“It is not FIFA’s to sell,” UEFA said in a statement. “None of us are the owners of football.”

Infantino’s plans to form a commercial subsidiary, which would be called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), running competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup was first reported by The Times of London.

FIFA said in a statement FFE would raise up to $4.2 billion later this year to help fund development programs “based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests.”

FIFA is working with J.P. Morgan while intended investors include Thrive Eternal launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The men’s World Cup that finished this month only deepened the political and personal ties between Trump and Infantino, and fueled concerns about those ties, including from UEFA.