FIFA scraps plans to sell off World Cup

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that his plan to privatize the World Cup has been scrapped. The New York Post was the first to report the collapse of the proposal. Infantino says that the division caused by the plan is the reason for the collapse. The deal, which aimed to raise more than 4 billion US dollars, sparked outrage across the soccer world. All members of UEFA, Europe's soccer governing body, voted to boycott all FIFA competitions, stating the World Cup is not for sale. CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation also rejected the proposal. This private investment plan collapsing in the way that it did, I'm not surprised. And FIFA, you know, they have to have the backing and the votes of 211 member nations, of which UEFA has by far the strongest weight. And without UEFA wanting to participate in the World Cup, you wouldn't have that at all. So, as hard as that was, you know, the next World Cup in 2030 is to be co-hosted by Spain and Portugal and Morocco. It'd be very difficult to go forward with any of those plans if you didn't have UEFA involved. And so that is why this this deal collapsed in the fashion that it did. It's a bit of a hybrid of being NHL commissioner like Gary Bettman, while also being elected like the Prime Minister of Canada, which makes FIFA very, very interesting. And FIFA does have in its operations, in its hierarchy, in its organization, a very, very royal family type of feel with some of the chaos that we've seen associated with, let's say, the Trump administration. So I do think that in this, you know, navigating world where you've kind of blend the two together, you've found ourselves in this situation where Gianni Infantino is playing both elected president and steward of the game. And he has to have the the backing and the votes of 211 member nations, of which UEFA has by far the strongest weight. And without UEFA wanting to participate, you wouldn't have that at all. So, as hard as that was, you know, the next World Cup in 2030 is to be co-hosted by Spain and Portugal and Morocco. It'd be very difficult to go forward with any of those plans if you didn't have UEFA involved. And so that is why this this deal collapsed in the fashion that it did.