The plan was also reportedly absent from discussions held with Football Associations shortly before the recent World Cup final, adding to frustration among European officials. World football's governing body says it wants to create a subsidiary worth $20billion (£15bn) and then sell off 20 per cent of FIFA Forward Enterprise to investors to raise $4.2bn (£3.16bn). If FIFA's members vote through the idea then Thrive Eternal, an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared, would lead the investors.
FIFA's decision to seek private investment has sent shockwaves through the football world and UEFA's members will meet this week to discuss their options in response. The strongest reaction has come from UEFA, whose 55 member associations are preparing to hold an emergency virtual meeting to discuss their response. A boycott of the next men's World Cup in 2030, which is set to be held across Spain, Morocco and Portugal, is one of the options on the table. There is precedent for such a threat forcing FIFA to back down: in 2021 FIFA dropped a proposal to stage the World Cup every two years after UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and his members said they wouldn't participate.
In a statement on Tuesday, UEFA reacted furiously: “This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every National Football Association. So should every stakeholder: leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments and everyone who cares about the future of the game. "The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
The Football Association was blindsided by FIFA's announcement and will join UEFA's members in deciding the next step. Earlier the Football Supporters' Association branded the proposal a "new low" from the world governing body as it targeted FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Burnham stated: "Let me say this very directly. Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine. "The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone's to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out. "Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will."