Selling the soul of football! Infantino joins forces with Trump, FIFA reduced to a puppet of capital?

By Han Bing July 28 is destined to be a historic date for global football. Before this day, FIFA was still an independent non-profit organization governing world football, at least nominally free from deep political and capital influence. But after this day, as Infantino pushed ahead with selling shares of the newly established FIFA Forward Enterprise to North American capital closely tied to the Trump family, FIFA under Infantino will become deeply entangled with Trump capital. By holding a minority stake in a FIFA subsidiary, "Trump capital" will inevitably influence many of FIFA's major decisions, effectively turning FIFA into a puppet of Infantino and Trump.

The British Times and The Guardian first broke this bombshell news, which immediately sparked strong protests from UEFA. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Spanish league president Javier Tebas, and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham all sharply criticized Infantino's greed. Sky Sports reported that if Infantino pushes ahead with the capitalization of the FIFA subsidiary, UEFA will lead European football associations in boycotting the World Cup. German media believe this is the biggest crisis of division FIFA has ever faced.

Infantino's unprincipled alignment with "Trump capital" has already sparked numerous controversies around the 2026 World Cup. This time, he has even gone so far as to completely change the independent nature that FIFA has relied on for over a century, with incalculable damage to world football.

On July 28, FIFA announced a groundbreaking commercial reform: the FIFA Forward Project, which previously supported the development of member associations, will become a commercial enterprise called the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). By selling a small stake to raise funds, it will significantly increase financial support for member associations, accelerating the development of global football. The expected funding per association will rise from the current $8 million to $20 million in the 2027-2030 cycle, $22 million in 2031-2034, and $24 million in 2035-2038.

FIFA plans to raise $4.2 billion by selling part of the FFE shares by the end of the year to complete this plan. FIFA also intends to hand over the commercial rights of the World Cup cycle, including copyright sales, sponsorship, ticketing, licensing, and event operations, to FFE for full management. FIFA expects that FFE's commercialization will generate over $10 billion in development funds over the next four years. Infantino promises that all proceeds will be distributed to all member associations, benefiting the entire world.

As part of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), FIFA will establish the FIFA Fast Forward Program (FFFP), allowing member associations to obtain additional development funds of up to $20 million in a lump sum. Although FIFA emphasizes that despite selling part of the FFE shares, FIFA retains exclusive control over FFE and the authority to make decisions on international football management, competitions, schedules, and regulatory and major finals, is that really the case?

FIFA confirmed that once the plan is approved by the Council and the Congress, a New York-based capital company called Thrive Eternal will lead the share sale and operation of FFE. The founder of this company, Joshua Kushner, is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and manages $50 billion in funds. In addition, JPMorgan Chase, which has already deeply involved in European football, is also actively participating in the project.

British media revealed that Infantino did not go through the FIFA Council when proposing the plan, and the English FA confirmed that the Council was never informed about it. This capital operation, which could overturn the existing order of international football, was entirely Infantino's unilateral decision. Besides using nearly three times the funding to "bribe" most associations into supporting his re-election as FIFA president, Infantino will become CEO of the company after stepping down in 2031, with an annual salary of over $60 million, ten times his current salary, reaping both fame and fortune.

By commercializing FFE and bringing in Trump family capital to lead the equity purchase and dominate the commercial operations centered on the World Cup, Infantino will fundamentally change FIFA's non-profit nature and its neutral stance free from political and capital interference. UEFA issued a statement strongly condemning Infantino's move, emphasizing that football is not for sale and no one is the owner of football: "This crosses a line that a football governing body should never cross. The soul and governance of football are not tradable assets—especially when the process is completely opaque and no one knows who benefits financially. None of us is the owner of football. This is not something FIFA can sell."

UEFA pointed out two fatal principle issues with the plan: the decision-making process is completely opaque, and the flow of economic benefits is entirely opaque. Although the newly raised funds appear to be fully returned to the associations, just as with the 2026 World Cup, Trump family capital's influence on FIFA's major decisions is evident. The subsidiary led by Trump family capital will fully manage the commercial affairs of FIFA's events, potentially placing future World Cups under the control of North American capital. Recalling that before the World Cup ended, Trump expressed a desire for the U.S. to host the "so profitable" World Cup again in 2038, there is reason to suspect this is a backroom deal between Infantino and Trump, treating FIFA and the World Cup as commodities for mutual benefit.

Even before Trump family capital fully enters FIFA's subsidiary and takes over the commercial development and operation of FIFA's events, Trump's influence on FIFA and the World Cup has already sparked too many controversies. From mass visa rejections for officials, staff, journalists, and fans of participating teams before the World Cup, to repeatedly harassing the Iranian team during the tournament, to overturning football rules to "suspend" the red card for U.S. forward Balogun, and even demanding that the 2030 World Cup final be held in Morocco instead of Spain due to U.S.-Spain diplomatic tensions—Infantino has become a complete puppet of Trump.

If Trump family capital also gains control over the funding projects that determine the distribution of funds to each FIFA association, as well as the commercial development and operation of the World Cup, FIFA will truly become the "Trump Family" football association, a result that UEFA finds completely unacceptable.

European media and UEFA both believe that the commercialization of FIFA's subsidiary, especially the strong involvement of Trump family capital, will push the World Cup into a dangerous state of profit-driven greed. Expanding the World Cup to 64 teams, or even changing it from every four years to every two years, is not impossible, as it would maximize capital returns. Moreover, future World Cups will likely be held only in countries or regions that maximize capital returns (e.g., the United States), becoming a pure money-making machine rather than a global event for all. Furthermore, given the overly close relationship between Infantino and Trump, the inevitable conflict of interest between FIFA, Infantino, and this new company is also completely unacceptable.

This is not the first time Infantino has tried to "commercialize" FIFA. In 2018, he negotiated with Japan's SoftBank, but the plan fell through due to opposition from most associations. This time, backed by Trump, Infantino is coming in strong. A senior English football executive told the BBC that this move is "more destructive" than the European Super League and will push the World Cup and international match schedules into unprecedented chaos. However, given that $20 million is a huge sum for most small and medium-sized associations, Infantino's blatant "bribery" is likely to secure a majority vote at the FIFA Congress, allowing the plan to pass.

UEFA has decided to hold an emergency meeting this week to formulate countermeasures, with the primary option being a boycott of future World Cups to demand that FIFA withdraw the plan. Infantino claims that UEFA itself has such a commercialized subsidiary that manages the commercial development and operation of its events. However, UEFA's subsidiary, UC3, was established in partnership with the European Football Clubs (EFC), which includes over 800 clubs, and is fully controlled by both organizations without any external capital investment—a fundamental difference from FIFA's plan.

It is reported that if UEFA initiates a boycott, the earliest target would be the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil. UEFA's confidence in confronting Infantino stems from the fact that over two-thirds of the players at the 2026 World Cup play in Europe. European football accounts for half of the global football industry, and a World Cup without European teams would suffer severe commercial losses. UEFA has not ruled out the possibility of breaking away from FIFA and forming a new international football governing body in collaboration with other confederations.

This life-and-death struggle between North American capital and Europe over control of world football and global markets has only just begun...