FIFA have announced on Friday that their controversial Forward Enterprise proposal would not proceed, with President Gianni Infantino finally backing down after receiving widespread criticism and backlash from member associations in nearly every corner of the world. The project would have allowed private investors to acquire a stake in a new $20B commercial subsidiary that was responsible for managing FIFA competitions, such as the World Cup and Club World Cup.
UEFA were the first continental confederation to come out in opposition against the plan, with its 55 member associations unanimously rejecting the idea and threatening a boycott of FIFA competitions if the proposal were to proceed. CONCACAF and AFC soon followed with statements of their own, saying they also opposed the plan.
However, a defiant FIFA attempted to proceed despite mounting pressure, initially insisting: “Nobody is selling football.” Infantino had set a deadline on September 19 for all of its 211 member associations to vote on the proposal, only needing a simple majority of 106 “yes” votes for the subsidiary to be established.
Member associations that formally approved and opted into the FFE proposal by the September 19 deadline would have unlocked a total of $40 million in funding for the next development cycle. Knowing that FIFA developed the proposal fully aware of the fact that they were likely to receive backlash from larger, more established countries, Infantino was relying on effectively bribing smaller nations (such as those in Oceania and the Caribbean) in order to secure its approval.
Publicly, the Oceania Football Confederation did not take a stance for or against the FFE. In a statement, OFC merely noted that the proposal would be deliberated upon at the upcoming Executive Committee meeting in August, and invited its member associations to review it.
Internally, however, pressure was already starting to mount. Minutes before FIFA finally axed the plan, New Zealand Football became the country’s first member association to reject the proposal and the means by which it was presented. A day before, Real Kakamora, one of the continent’s leading clubs in terms of global following, had called on all member nations of the confederation to “unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal” on the grounds that it was “in direct opposition to the values and ideals that have made world football what it was today.” Notably, the club’s current president also serves as a vice president of the Solomon Islands Football Federation and would have likely influenced the country’s decision.
Sensing that even the world’s most cash-strapped nations were unwilling to agree, FIFA conceded its ground, with Infantino admitting: “It has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.”
If OFC were to join UEFA, CONCACAF, and AFC in unanimously rejecting the proposal, it would have been a virtual guarantee that the motion would end up being denied as FIFA would have fell well short of the required 106 votes necessary to create the subsidiary.
As for what’s next, Infantino now finds himself in a tenuous position, with multiple figures across the sport calling for his ouster as President of FIFA. Whether he decides to step down in the face of this unprecedented backlash or attempts to rehabilitate his reputation in the coming days and weeks remains to be seen.
We at Oceania Football Center fully support the statements of UEFA and CONCACAF and concur that world football, especially a tournament as prestigious as the World Cup, is too valuable to be sold and treated as an investment vehicle. We send our best wishes to all federations and clubs who organised in the rejection effort.
Oceania Football Center 