FIFA Plans Sale of Stake in New Tournament Business
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — FIFA plans to sell a significant minority stake in a new company that will manage the commercial operations of its biggest tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The organization intends to use the proceeds to substantially increase funding for national football associations.
Under the proposal, which must be approved by a majority of FIFA's 211 member associations and the FIFA Council, a new company, FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE), will be established. The company will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA will retain its role as world football's governing body and hold a controlling stake in the new entity.
FIFA plans to sell up to a 21% stake in FFE to private investors and raise about US$4.2 billion. The funds would be allocated to a new FIFA Fast-Forward Programme (FFFP), designed to finance projects by national football associations.
JP Morgan is serving as the lead financial adviser on the transaction. The investor group is expected to be led by Thrive Eternal, an investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
If approved, FIFA's development programmes are expected to exceed US$10 billion over the next four years. Each of the organization's 211 member associations could receive up to an additional US$20 million for special projects through the FFFP.
Funding under the existing FIFA Forward programme would also increase significantly. Member associations currently receive US$8 million during each four-year cycle. That amount would rise to US$20 million in the next cycle, US$22 million in the 2031-2034 cycle and US$24 million in the 2035-2038 cycle.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino told member associations that a decision on the proposal should be made by 19 September 2026 so that the new funding can become available from 1 January 2027. He said the commercial potential of global football should be distributed more fairly, giving every association sufficient resources to develop independently.
The proposal has drawn mixed reactions. UEFA said selling a stake in the commercial rights of world football was a "red line", arguing that football should not become the subject of such transactions, particularly without full transparency regarding the beneficiaries.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, vice president of the German Football Association, described the proposal as "an attack on football", while the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) said it was dissatisfied that it had learned about the plans through media reports rather than official consultations. La Liga President Javier Tebas linked the initiative to FIFA's presidential election scheduled for March next year.
Despite the criticism, some experts note that similar models have already been used in other sports organizations.
Commercial stakes have previously been sold by the French and Spanish football leagues, similar mechanisms are under discussion in Germany and Italy, and comparable approaches have been used in Formula One and professional golf.
FIFA expects record revenue of about US$15 billion for the current four-year cycle, exceeding its original forecast of US$13 billion and nearly doubling the total from the previous cycle.
According to experts, creating a separate commercial company could help drive further revenue growth through the continued expansion of FIFA's flagship tournaments.
