FIFA President pledges 'culture of dialogue' after uproar over secretive World Cup sell-off plan

FIFA president Gianni Infantino Thursday pledged a new “culture of dialogue” and greater openness at world football’s governing body, two months after his abandoned $4.2 billion commercial sell-off proposal triggered one of the biggest internal disputes of his decade-long presidency. His comments came days after he proposed an independent external review of FIFA’s governance and decision-making processes, with the issue set to be taken up by the FIFA Council on October 15.

Writing on Instagram from Jeddah, where he was attending the Arabian Gulf Cup, Infantino said he had received positive responses to his proposals from different parts of the world and stressed the need for FIFA officials and member associations to continue listening to one another. “There must be a culture of dialogue, of listening to each other and respecting one another,” he said, adding that the exercise was “not about generating positive headlines” but about “doing what is right for the game”.

Governance review on table

Infantino earlier this week wrote to members of the FIFA Council and all 211 national associations proposing an independent external examination of FIFA’s governance framework for major strategic initiatives. He also proposed structured consultations with FIFA’s six continental confederations, national associations and other stakeholders on whether changes were needed to make major decisions more transparent and participatory.

The proposals will be discussed when the FIFA Council meets in Zurich on October 15. Infantino has said the consultation could examine the respective roles of the president, the FIFA Bureau, the Council and Congress, as well as whether member associations should have an earlier and greater role in decisions involving major commercial and strategic initiatives.

The move followed weeks of pressure over the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, under which outside investors would have acquired a stake in a business controlling commercial rights linked to FIFA competitions, including the World Cup. The plan, which could have raised around $4.2 billion, faced strong resistance from sections of world football before FIFA withdrew it in August.

Sell-off plan sparked rift

The proposed commercial venture envisaged selling roughly a fifth of the new entity to private investors, with an investment group linked to businessman Joshua Kushner involved in discussions. Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

FIFA’s member associations had been offered substantial additional funding as part of the proposal, including a one-off payment of $20 million each if the project went ahead. Critics questioned why a Switzerland-based non-profit organisation with billions of dollars in reserves needed to bring private investors into a business built around some of world football’s most valuable commercial assets.

The proposal triggered opposition from senior figures within FIFA’s own governing structure. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani were among those who resisted the plan, while the Asian Football Confederation was also involved in opposition to the project. Critics argued that major decisions involving FIFA’s core commercial assets required wider consultation and greater scrutiny.

UEFA and CONCACAF have instead argued that FIFA has sufficient financial reserves to increase distributions to its 211 national associations without selling a stake in its commercial operations. They have pushed for member associations to receive additional funding directly from FIFA’s existing resources.

Pressure on Infantino

The dispute has intensified scrutiny of how major decisions have been taken during Infantino’s presidency, particularly proposals involving billions of dollars in commercial revenue. Critics have repeatedly argued that FIFA’s continental bodies and other stakeholders should be involved earlier when decisions could significantly alter the organisation’s financial or governance structure.

Infantino, who has led FIFA since 2016, has rejected suggestions that the governing body should retreat from seeking new ways to increase football revenues. His latest proposals, however, represent an acknowledgement that FIFA’s decision-making arrangements could be subjected to outside scrutiny and potentially changed.

Some national federations have remained sceptical about the initiative. German football federation president Bernd Neuendorf this week described Infantino’s proposal as insufficient and questioned whether the FIFA president should lead the reform process, while other associations have called for broader changes to governance and transparency.

Election battle approaches

The governance dispute comes at a politically sensitive time for FIFA, with the deadline for candidates seeking the presidency approaching on November 18. The election is scheduled to be decided by FIFA’s member associations at the organisation’s Congress in Morocco on March 18, 2027.

Infantino has made clear that he intends to remain engaged in the reform discussions. “I have never been more determined and committed in doing that,” he said Thursday, adding that FIFA should continue hearing views on how football could grow “for the benefit of everybody, everywhere”.

The October 15 Council meeting will now provide the first major test of that pledge. Beyond deciding whether to commission an independent external review, FIFA’s leadership will have to determine how far it is prepared to alter a decision-making structure that has become the focus of an increasingly public dispute within world football.