World Cup stakes for sale: is this the endgame?
Fifa is planning to sell up to 20 percent of its stake in the World Cup to private investors. According to media reports, its president, Gianni Infantino, wants to set up a new entity to raise billions in profits by selling off commercial rights to the tournament. Fifa has confirmed that it is examining the proposal. Uefa has slammed the plan. Commentators are also incensed.
Death in installments for football
Infantino is handing over the world's biggest sport to the Trump clan, Correio da Manhã laments:
“Infantino wants to sell the World Cup and is getting ready to place it in America's sphere of influence. This shift has been prepared step by step. The Peace Prize in December. The offices in Trump Tower. The joint presentation of the World Cup trophy. … The plan is not merely to market the tournament, but to hand over the criteria that decide where matches are played, how many teams take part, at what intervals and at what cost. The Trump clan won't respect the rules of the game or the fixtures. It will impose them. And this will be the death of the world's biggest sport. Bit by bit.”
A dreadful prospect
Jyllands-Posten is appalled:
“It's hard to imagine that investors won't use their power to influence key priorities and decisions. The investors and their returns will take precedence over the sport itself and its priorities. What a dreadful prospect. International football should not be an investment asset. Top-flight football is already thoroughly commercialised, but this initiative will take it even further away from being a community centred on sport. ...This is all about money, not sport. Maximising profit with no regard for the product. ... Who will give Infantino the red card?”
Time to end the Fifa horror show
The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls on the European football association Uefa to pull the emergency cord:
“Resistance is mounting across Europe. But one thing must be clear to everyone: this time, it won't be enough to nip the Fifa boss's next megalomaniacal attack in the bud. Gianni Infantino must disappear from football. And if that fails because Rwanda, Paraguay and a few South Pacific atolls refuse to play ball, Europe will just have to walk away from the football of Infantino and Trump. Europe holds only a quarter of the votes in the presidential election, but its power can't be overestimated if it is used correctly. A World Cup without Europe – whether with 48, 64 or 143 teams – wouldn't even make it into the pub quiz. It's high time Uefa put an end to this horror show.”
Pandora's box
A risky venture, warns Le Temps:
“It's unclear whether Gianni Infantino is doing this to secure his re-election or to pave the way for him to take the helm of the new organisation. One suspects that football will 'gain' more hydration breaks and pay-per-view matches in the process, because after all it has to be worthwhile for the private investors. But what happens if they decide that matches that end in a tie are bad for business, or that a winning streak for China would open up new markets? Fifa is plunging headlong into the difficult birth of an uncertain and dangerous project that is concerned only with maximising profit. In a sport where money already plays too big a role, Pandora's box should not be opened.”
A pact with the devil
The 2026 World Cup was already too commercialised, the Times of Malta admonishes:
“All this helped Fifa generate an estimated 13 to 15 billion, which explains why the organisation now regards every footballing tradition not as something to protect but as an inconvenient obstacle between it and another sponsorship deal. The sad part is that the football survived. It frequently entertained, occasionally thrilled and ultimately produced the right winner. But that almost feels incidental. Fifa did not stage this World Cup so much as strip-mine it, selling the soul of the world's greatest sporting event to the devil of the dollar. And you can be certain the dollar devil has already renewed his hospitality package for 2030.”
Unlikely to get the go-ahead
Etelä-Suomen Sanomat doubts that Infantino will secure a majority for his project:
“The fact that preparations have been carried out in secret suggests that the project would not stand up to scrutiny. It would seem that US President Donald Trump and Fifa President Gianni Infantino have been pressing ahead with the preparations. ... The last World Cup generated around 13 billion euros. Trump is a businessman, and he can see the money under his nose. Trump's 'deals' no longer surprise us. What would be surprising is if Fifa's 211 member associations were to agree to such a deal. It's hard to believe they ever would.”