After the World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino was riding on top of the world. With unprecedented profits for FIFA, he was almost certain of another term as President when elections would be conducted. On July 16, The Guardian published an article in which over 200 FIFA members endorsed Infantino’s re-election bid.

But towards the end of July, when most had not yet settled in, and there were celebrations around the world for Spain winning the World Cup, the football world was facing an unprecedented corruption scandal that was threatening Infantino’s presidency, and possibly his re-election bid.

On July 28, Martin Ziegler, a reporter from The Times, wrote an article in which he outlined FIFA president Infantino's plan to spin off a commercial subsidiary of FIFA and sell a 20 percent stake to private investors. The backlash was swift and immediate. UEFA and CONCACAF publicly opposed the planned deal. UEFA went as far as threatening to pull its 55 member nations out of FIFA competitions, making FIFA events practically economically worthless. Asian Football Confederation (AFC) publicly opposed the controversial plan. It also caused some resignations within FIFA. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour and Senior Adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned.

UEFA’s statement was clear. UEFA said: “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.”

As background, the planned investment would be led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, through his Thrive Eternal fund. There lies the rub. Before the World Cup, Infantino was seemingly infatuated with President Donald Trump. He lavished praise on him, to the point of awarding him the FIFA Peace Prize in December 2025. Coincidentally, the FIFA Peace Prize was just created in 2025, shortly before Infantino awarded it to Trump, probably as a way to curry favor with him, and to compensate for Trump repeatedly failing to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which he has been coveting for a long time.

If you take a look back at what happened during the World Cup, it makes sense now. Many in the football world were surprised at the many changes. From the exuberant ticket prices, the halftime show, and the hydration breaks (which allowed commercial sponsors to place ads). That was a showcase and proof of concept on how to make even more money from the World Cup. That looked like Infantino’s way of showing the group affiliated with President Trump that they could make money by buying into the plan.

As a sweetener, news reports say there was also a personal agenda. If the deal pushed through, there was supposed to be an increase in Infantino’s salary from $3 million to $30 million. Some say he was envious of the salaries of commissioners of US sports organizations who were getting big paychecks.

Based on reporting, to entice FAs to sign in, there was an Incentive Structure. Under the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FEE) initiative, FAs that signed up and voted to approve the plan by a Sept. 19, 2026 deadline would receive a total funding of $40 million spanning the 2027 — 2030 cycle. This included an initial payment of $20 million made available starting Jan. 1, 2027. If the FA chose not to participate or support the privatization scheme, the FA would have been restricted to the traditional FIFA Forward 4.0 program, which would yield about $10 million per cycle. Critics and opposing officials labeled this enormous US$30 Million funding gap as “pure bribery” and “financial blackmail.”

Take note, FIFA supposedly profited from the recent World Cup. Estimates are between $10.9 billion and $15 billion. If you did the math, FIFA has enough money to give all FAs $40 million, even without having to sell off to Kushner’s group.

Make no mistake about it, there are still some FAs that pledged support for Infantino. About six publicly declared support, including Egypt and Morocco. News reports also claim Infantino is trying to get support from Trump to hold on to his job.

But make no mistake about it, the devious plan has caused a tsunami of opposition to Infantino. Not only to the plan, which he was forced to shelve because of the enormous backlash, but to his re-election as well. Some are even openly talking about calling for a no-confidence vote, which could force his resignation. UEFA has likewise officially informed Infantino not to destroy documents related to the botched plan, which could result in legal action as well.

Never forget, football is a beautiful sport. It belongs to the people. Not in the hands of people who want to squeeze it for money. Several personalities have pointed out that President Trump has infected football through Infantino. I hope FIFA and the football associations can still wrest themselves out of the infection of the rot.