Inside the week that shook Gianni Infantino, FIFA and the football world

The grand announcement was supposed to come on the eve of the World Cup final at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, when FIFA president Gianni Infantino planned to unveil his plan to sell a stake in its competitions to private investors, including Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared.

The previous evening, he held court alongside the U.S. president at Trump Tower. Infantino described the 2026 World Cup as “the greatest human, social and cultural event mankind has ever witnessed.” In front of a room of billionaires, extended Trump family members and soccer federation executives, Infantino’s grip on the sport appeared impregnable. He wrote on Instagram that he had already received pledges of support from more than 200 of the 211 member federations for re-election in 2027, having announced his candidacy in April, with the African, Asian and South American confederations unanimously backing him.

The World Cup may have been mired in the scandals of rejected visas, Trump interference and numerous statewide investigations into FIFA’s ticketing practices, but it yielded $15billion (£11bn) in revenues, which had a muzzling effect on those who were uneasy with Infantino’s leadership. He was so confident in his position that he ended the tournament without the customary closing press conference. Then, last Sunday, he went onto Instagram and lashed out against scrutiny and criticism of his leadership, accusing critics of “spreading hate” and telling them to “meditate, pray or watch a football match” instead of spending their energy worrying about FIFA.

One week on, Infantino’s premiership is on the brink. The speed of his downfall has been extraordinary. His statement on Friday, pulling the plug on the FIFA Forward Enterprise, has not satisfied his fiercest critics. UEFA, accusing him of a “shabby, backroom deal,” wants him gone, saying the FIFA leadership “has not only lost UEFA’s confidence but also that of many other members of the football family.” Concacaf soon followed, claiming FIFA’s leadership had “stopped putting football first” and called for a “comprehensive reckoning with this presidency.”

According to numerous sources, who wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, already a FIFA vice-president, is seriously considering challenging Infantino for the throne. Nominations must be made by November for the spring elections. Other names will surely emerge. According to well-placed sources within UEFA, there is an increasing likelihood that any new leadership candidate to replace Infantino would come from outside Europe, with backing from the European governing body, which would be prepared to coalesce around a unity candidate.

On Saturday, allies and enemies came to the fore. Infantino received backing from the associations of Qatar and Morocco, two countries he has courted closely. Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup, and Morocco is vying to host the final in 2030. Lebanon also backed Infantino on Saturday night.

FIFA politics, however, is a numbers game and the 96 federations of Concacaf, which governs North American, Central American and Caribbean soccer, and UEFA do not equal a majority. If Infantino is to be deposed, those confederations will also need to remain unified while winning over nations from areas where Infantino has more support, notably Africa and South America, but also Asia and Oceania.

Over the coming days and weeks, we will discover whether Infantino has the stomach for a prolonged fight. As the pressure grew in recent days, there was no impression internally that he was contemplating resignation. Instead, his discussions were about how he could backtrack from his clandestine plot while maintaining his position as president. But he is struggling for credibility.

Chief operating officer Kevin Lamour told the Associated Press that staff had been “deceived” by Infantino and that he would sleep better after speaking out on the matter, even if it cost him his job. “It is the project of one person,” Lamour said. “The time has come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

European executives, who admire Lamour, a former UEFA executive, did not want him to resign because they wanted to retain a man they consider a voice of reason. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s advisor and the former U.S. Soccer Federation president, resigned on Friday and condemned the proposal as a “bad deal.” Cordeiro’s departure, while accompanied by a punchy statement, was perhaps less significant than it appeared at first glance.

His main function was to help the World Cup in North America run smoothly, liaising with the White House, and he was not even initially paid for his role with FIFA. A wealthy veteran of the investment banking world, he later agreed an annual salary of $200,000, which his representative says was donated to a charitable foundation. Like many within FIFA’s apparatus, Cordeiro stood by Infantino through some of the president’s most controversial decisions, most notably the exploitative ticketing strategy for the World Cup and the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize for Trump, when Infantino blindsided his vice-presidents and FIFA council but faced no consequences.

Infantino’s relationship with FIFA secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom has deteriorated, with sources inside and outside FIFA claiming the Swede was not involved when drawing up the plans to sell the stake and was unhappy to be cut out of discussions. He has been increasingly unimpressed by Infantino’s decision-making over the past year, and several federation executives said they could not get their heads around the idea that the FIFA president would not involve his secretary-general in an idea of this magnitude. A FIFA spokesman said: “FIFA does not comment on speculation regarding internal relationships.”

Should Infantino cling on, his capacity to enact change or further his ambitions will be hindered. Only a fortnight ago, he and Trump were publicly joking about expanding the World Cup to 64 teams, an idea proposed by CONMEBOL and increasingly supported by Infantino.

That concept, previously opposed by UEFA and Concacaf, will now be even more tricky to pull off. He faces challenges, too, from European clubs, who were furious to learn that some of FIFA’s competition revenues — including the Club World Cup — could be sold off to outside investors.

FIFA’s funding for the organization, participation and prize money of a future Club World Cup in 2029 is uncertain — the 2025 edition was bailed out when DAZN paid $1billion for the broadcast rights, a few months before a Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund-owned company bought a stake in the broadcaster — while sources close to the discussions say nothing has been agreed between FIFA and leading European clubs on participation in a future tournament. They also say that a target fund of $250m in solidarity payments to clubs that did not compete in the 2025 tournament remains unpaid — with a formula not yet determined — while a debrief on what went well and badly in the States 12 months ago has still not happened.

FIFA’s commercial team has also encountered concern from sponsors, with at least one considering a public statement next week before the plan had been dropped, while executives at Bank of America, a FIFA sponsor for the World Cup and Club World Cup over the past year, would likely have been surprised to see Infantino seeking to do a deal with rival bank JP Morgan Chase.

As Infantino splinters away from FIFA’s leadership team, it was noticeable to observers during the World Cup that he increasingly surrounded himself with wealthy friends, power players or former international footballers who are now designated as “FIFA Legends.” Indeed, The Athletic has even been told by people with knowledge of the situation that Infantino has dispatched some of those FIFA legends to hold initial exploratory discussions with financial institutions in recent times, seeking to dazzle bankers with fame.

The purpose of Infantino’s proposed external investment remains unclear to many. He and FIFA have said it was all about developing global football. Yet many do not understand why a spin-off into a commercial for-profit entity was necessary when FIFA is sitting on billions in reserves.

Businesses usually only call for investment when in distress or when support is required for vast infrastructure projects. Infantino had put forward a solution without defining the problem that needed to be solved, which made it easy for opponents to tear apart. If Infantino wanted to increase rewards for member associations, it was within FIFA’s gift to do so already.

His critics advanced alternative theories. UEFA has accused him of “using our sport to enrich themselves and their friends.” Several sources said he wanted to create a commissioner-style role for the new vehicle — an idea FIFA denied — and that he has been inspired by Trump’s ability to network and make money. Several of those who have worked with him describe Infantino as being obsessed with the salaries earned by U.S. sports league commissioners, who earn tens of millions of dollars per year — while he earns around $6m per year.

Infantino has also, in recent years, had aspirations to grow the FIFA brand, flirting with concepts such as FIFA-branded hotels and stadiums. He has been seeking to replicate the soft-approval powers the FIFA video game provided — that is, before FIFA’s desire for an increased annual payment led to a parting of the ways with EA Sports, which now makes the EA FC game without the world governing body.

Suspicions about the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan only increased when the world found out that the lead external investor had the surname Kushner. Several leading executives were quietly furious about Infantino’s extremely public courting of Trump in the lead-up to the World Cup, with FIFA paying rent to Trump’s family business for office space in Manhattan. They gritted their teeth and bit their tongues when the FIFA president gifted Trump his peace prize. The news, however, that Infantino had agreed, via bank JP Morgan, to mortgage FIFA’s future revenues to a fund owned by an extended family member of Trump was always going to be a tinderbox.

There was no open and public process to come to a valuation of a stake or auction to secure the most appropriate partner. A deck prepared by JP Morgan, seen by The Athletic, said FIFA requires “billions” to deepen engagement with fans and claimed the World Cup — referred to as “FIFA” on the deck — had been “under-monetized” when compared to the NFL, NBA and Premier League, particularly given its huge viewing figures.

The Infantino relationship with the Kushner family goes back almost a decade, to Trump’s first term in the White House when the U.S. was vying to secure the 2026 World Cup. Jared Kushner ran a White House department named the Office of American Innovation, which became the connecting point for the bid. Trump’s media advisor at the time, Jason Miller, previously sent a text message that described the work as “all Jared.” This included maximizing his burgeoning relationship with Saudi Arabia, with Vanity Fair reporting Kushner asked the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “directly” for his nation’s support as early as the summer of 2017 during a visit to the country, making the same request to the House of Khalifa in Bahrain. Both nations voted for the joint U.S.-Canada-Mexico bid.

Kushner’s interest in the World Cup extended beyond Trump leaving office in January 2021. The Athletic has previously revealed Kushner, who grew up in New Jersey, helped coordinate the final push for MetLife Stadium to beat Jerry Jones and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, as final hosts. In the weeks before the announcement, largely decided by Infantino, Kushner spoke with the FIFA president and helped assemble a key meal also attended by New Jersey governor Phil Murphy and some of New York’s most prominent businessmen and dealmakers in a get-together regarded as key to getting it over the line.

The FIFA president credited Jared Kushner with the idea of using Tiffany & Co for the design of the Club World Cup trophy, an ornament that ended up having Infantino’s name engraved in two places. Kushner’s wife — Trump’s daughter Ivanka — and their son Theodore also made the ceremonial first pick of the Club World Cup draw in Miami in December 2024.

According to the Financial Times, the plan for Kushner’s brother Joshua to invest in FIFA was first discussed at an Allen & Co conference last year in Sun Valley, where Kushner and Greg Maffei, the former boss of Formula 1 owner Liberty Media, talked through the concept and took it to Infantino. While talks had been ongoing for almost a year, the actual terms sheet was only signed in the past couple of weeks.

The possibility of the investment, and a possible Infantino pay cheque, perhaps helps explain the extent of FIFA’s commercialization of this summer’s World Cup, giving full proof of concept to potential investors. This included hydration breaks, which could help inflate future television rights deals through commercial breaks, record ticket prices, a FIFA platform to take commission from ticket resales and a half-time show in the final.

Infantino also seemed to buy into an American perspective on the importance of getting stars onto the field. FIFA showed elasticity in its rules to enable Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami to play at last year’s Club World Cup, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Folarin Balogun were among players whose bans were suspended to enable them to compete in the World Cup. Infantino insists he has no part in disciplinary processes.

The announcement about Kushner’s proposed investment was ultimately delayed beyond the World Cup final weekend, but a source said that Infantino was already gossiping about the broad strokes of the plan to wealthy friends around the final, which is how some people believe the plan started to widen its web and leak. A source close to Kushner’s firm, Thrive Capital, suggested the decision to delay the announcement was taken by Infantino, but it was expected to be rolled out during the past week.

In doing so, he lost control of the messaging and the delivery, because two British newspapers, The Times and The Financial Times, revealed the news on Tuesday morning, throwing a grenade into the rollout. Several of Infantino’s most trusted media advisors were off work following the rigors of the World Cup. FIFA, Thrive and JP Morgan hired a London-based consultancy firm to assist on the rollout, while UEFA hired a Los Angeles-based communications agency and Concacaf and Cordeiro both used the same British public relations advisor. It became a full-blown public battle for football’s future.

UEFA issued statements and called an emergency meeting. Its president, Aleksander Ceferin, is a longstanding antagonist of Infantino, opposed to almost everything the FIFA president has done over recent years. UEFA vice-president Laura McAllister spoke third during the meeting, and sources in the room say she was the first to talk about what comes next and the first to raise the need for a boycott. This idea received immediate support, while Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness raised the “what if” stages of next steps and the need to do it properly, such as potentially calling an emergency meeting with UEFA and the FIFA council.

In total, 33 people spoke, and nobody at the meeting argued for more time to deliberate or for taking the money presented by FIFA. All were in unanimous agreement. “Everyone who spoke said it was not acceptable,” Klaveness said in a press conference on Friday, saying federations felt unduly pressured by Infantino’s 53-day window to sign off on the plan. “The word ‘blackmail’ was used.” UEFA’s leadership wants its nations to withdraw previous letters endorsing Infantino for another term, although some may question why it took so long for them to summon the courage.

Concacaf members had their own hours-long meeting on Wednesday lunchtime. The concept of private equity required an explanation at the start of the call, but there was widespread agreement that FIFA had failed to follow typical governance processes for an idea of this size. Concacaf nations vary in wealth and size, from the U.S. and Mexico to Haiti and Suriname, but they, too, rejected the plan, baffled by the lack of information and why it was necessary to sell a piece of the World Cup. Mexico’s position appeared softer, later putting out an individual statement that appeared less closed to the concept.

Infantino faces a battle at the next election, and some figures believe he may seek to give the federations their promised $20m share from existing FIFA revenues and reserves, but UEFA and Concacaf are seeking to maintain control. Both confederations released statements on Saturday saying they would work with confederations to disperse money already sat in FIFA’s bank accounts to member associations.

A spokesperson for the world governing body said it had “outlined FIFA’s position in the statements of the previous days,” and would not comment on “speculation regarding specific candidates for the president position.” Asked about Infantino’s plan, the statement added that “the responsibility and involvement of the relevant FIFA decision-making bodies is set out in the FIFA statutes and FIFA’s regulatory framework.”

As the week rolled on, the door became increasingly ajar for Montagliani, who has long been tipped as a contender to replace Infantino. But everyone expected it to be after 2031, when, if Infantino is re-elected, his fourth and final allowed term will end, rather than next year. Infantino is teetering, scrambling to secure public backers to preserve his status. He will hope that Africa and South America — both quiet this week — remain loyal, while it may be a case of seeing how Asia fractures for or against him that determines his future.

In his speech at a FIFA congress in Vancouver in April, Montagliani made several comments that, to some in the room, felt pointed at Infantino. In light of this week, it appears even more pertinent.

“When leadership serves the sport, not itself, the impossible becomes possible,” he said. “Leadership is about service.”

We will soon find out if FIFA’s 211 federations want him to provide that service.

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