For many years, Gianni Infantino has been considered one of the FIFA Presidents with the most solid position. With a network of 211 member federations and huge financial resources that FIFA allocates to countries, he almost always has an absolute advantage in elections. However, the scandal related to the plan to sell 20% of FIFA's commercial space to private investors has pushed him into the most serious crisis since taking office in 2016.
Until before the incident was exposed, very few people believed that Infantino could lose his position. The reason is very simple: his power comes not only from the position of FIFA President but also from the ability to bring money to member federations. In 10 years of leadership, Infantino has quadrupled financial support for each national federation, while increasing FIFA's total investment in football development projects worldwide many times over.
For many small federations in Africa, Asia or the Caribbean, funding from FIFA plays a vital role. Therefore, controversies about Infantino's governance or management often do not significantly affect their votes. What they are most interested in is that FIFA continues to generate revenue and cash flow still flows steadily to its football backgrounds.
In fact, during Infantino's term, FIFA continuously broke revenue records. The 2026 World Cup is considered the most successful tournament in commercial history, helping FIFA earn huge profits and consolidate its unprecedented financial position. Therefore, many people believe that there is no reason to change the leadership.
However, everything reversed when information about FIFA's plan to separate the commercial company to sell 20% of shares to private investors was leaked. This proposal immediately created a wave of strong opposition from many major football organizations around the world.
UEFA is the most strongly reacting organization. According to the European football governing body, allowing investment funds to hold shares in FIFA tournaments will make profits the top priority, rather than the interests of football. UEFA warns that once outside investors own shares, they will always demand higher profits, leading to increasing commercialization pressure on tournaments.
Not stopping at the protest statement, UEFA is also said to have considered the possibility of withdrawing all 55 member federations from the tournaments organized by FIFA if the plan is approved. This is unprecedented pressure, because the absence of European teams will significantly reduce the commercial value of the World Cup and many other tournaments.
Faced with a strong reaction from UEFA and many other federations, Infantino was forced to temporarily suspend the plan. However, this decision was not enough to quell the wave of criticism. Some senior FIFA leaders also successively left the organization, further increasing doubts about the FIFA President's management style.
What makes many economic experts confused is not the selling of shares itself, but the reason for carrying out the deal. Usually, a business only sells shares when it needs to raise capital or find strategic partners for development. Meanwhile, FIFA currently owns about 2.7 billion USD in cash reserves and has just experienced the World Cup with the highest revenue in history. With such financial potential, this organization is not short of capital to expand its operations.
Besides, FIFA is also fully capable of hiring top world experts instead of having to sell part of its assets to investment funds. Therefore, many people ask the question: if money is not needed and expertise is not lacking, what is the real purpose of the deal?
Another controversial point is FIFA's implementation of the plan. Instead of organizing a public bidding to select the highest bidder, FIFA negotiated with a specific group of investors. This makes many experts believe that the organization has missed the opportunity to optimize the value of its assets and raises doubts about transparency.
Many opinions also believe that the time Infantino put forward this plan was a major political mistake. The FIFA President election is approaching, while proposing a controversial project only causes him to lose support from many major federations. If he wants to promote reform, Infantino can completely wait until after being re-elected to take advantage of his political advantage.
In the past, Infantino has repeatedly pursued bold ideas such as organizing the World Cup every two years or large-scale investment cooperation projects. Although many plans have failed, they are still considered initiatives capable of creating significant changes for world football. On the contrary, this commercial share sale plan is considered unconvincing both in terms of business and strategy.
