European football’s governing body, Uefa, is reportedly set to hold an emergency meeting with its 55 member associations this week to discuss Fifa’s controversial proposal to sell equity stakes to outside investors.
The move follows a furious reaction from Uefa, which has accused Fifa of putting the game’s “soul” up for sale.
Fifa announced on Tuesday it plans to create a $20 billion subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events and will offer stakes of up to 20% in it to external investors billion, though FIFA would retain control.
The proposal comes after Fifa recently staged its largest ever 48-team World Cup across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Both the BBC and ESPN have reported that Uefa’s virtual meeting will focus on developing a unified plan of action for European football.
Uefa did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Uefa did release a lengthy statement on Tuesday, though, criticising Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s proposed scheme.
The statement read: “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 proposed 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.
Thrive Eternal took a minority stake in Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants this year. The vehicle was founded by Kushner, and former Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger serves as an adviser.
Fifa is working with bankers at JPMorgan to raise billions of dollars by bringing in external investors to take as much as a 20 per cent stake in the entity. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has been involved as a commercial adviser on the creation of the Fifa enterprise.
In a statement, Fifa said it would “raise up to $4.2bn later this year” to fund the project, “based on an initial equity valuation of $20bn by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests … All net benefits will be reinvested back into football worldwide.”
