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FIFA, Gianni Infantino and the World Cup boycott threat explained · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Is tantamend to the privatization or for the moment, the
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  Speaker 1: part privatization of the world's corp which is essentially a
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  Speaker 1: public good.
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  Speaker 2: There's an awful lot of interested parties in the game
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  Speaker 2: who who want to slice the action.
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  Speaker 3: The whole thing is absolutely dreadful.
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  Speaker 2: It's totally unacceptable.
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  Speaker 4: It's itels the feel of cronyism, nepotism, it's all of stinks.
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  Speaker 5: Frankly, this goes to the very heart of whether FIFA
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  Speaker 5: run football or FIFA own football. On the global stage.
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  Speaker 2: FIFA talks a lot about the football family and this
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  Speaker 2: is selling the football family silver.
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  Speaker 5: FIFA has caused uproar after announcing plans to open the
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  Speaker 5: World Cup up to private investment. But what does that mean?
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  Speaker 5: Why are people so angry? But first, what exactly is planned?
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  Speaker 5: FIFA says it plans to raise ten billion dollars by
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  Speaker 5: selling a stake in the World Cup to private investors' money,
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  Speaker 5: it says would be reinvested into the development of football.
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  Speaker 5: But how would it be done. Neston McGregor explains.
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  Speaker 3: By creating a new private company called fever Forward Enterprise.
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  Speaker 3: It's goal would be to look for long term minority
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  Speaker 3: investors to maximize the organization's commercial rights, so think things
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  Speaker 3: like broadcast deals, licensing and ticket sales, and fIF remains
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  Speaker 3: adamant this would not affect the overall governance of the game,
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  Speaker 3: which includes the rules or the match calendar.
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  Speaker 5: For example, our sports presenter Olie Foster is with us.
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  Speaker 5: Ollie tell us a little bit more about what exactly
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  Speaker 5: FIFA is proposing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, not surprising the timing of this anita off the
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  Speaker 2: back of a bumper. World Cup football stock has never
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  Speaker 2: been higher. FIFA. They just want to sell off part
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  Speaker 2: of the organization that runs its major competitions, the men's
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  Speaker 2: Women's World Cups, the Club World Cup, that's the competition
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  Speaker 2: for the top club sides in the world. They say
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  Speaker 2: they're going to maintain control FIFA. They're going to brand
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  Speaker 2: this commercial subsidiary as the FIFA Forward Enterprise, as we
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  Speaker 2: just heard there critically, they're going to allow private investors
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  Speaker 2: to have a minority stake in that company. Now, when
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  Speaker 2: you look at how much money FEFA make, it's billions
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  Speaker 2: and billions of dollars generated through their competitions, mainly the
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  Speaker 2: world cut through broadcasting rights, ticketing, sponsorship deals and so on.
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  Speaker 2: So the opportunity would be there if this is passed
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  Speaker 2: through for investors to come in and make a lot
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  Speaker 2: of money themselves.
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  Speaker 5: Well, we'll have more on the reaction to all of
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  Speaker 5: this in a second, but first a round of quick
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  Speaker 5: fire questions for you, Ollie that people have been searching for.
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  Speaker 5: Taking this back to basics. First up, who owns FIFA
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  Speaker 5: governing body?
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  Speaker 2: It's an organization. It's essentially owned anita by its members.
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  Speaker 2: That's the two hundred and eleven football associations and federations
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  Speaker 2: around the world, all shapes and sizes, all of them
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  Speaker 2: having their one vote, being able to vote on proposals
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  Speaker 2: a direction of travel that's put forward by FIFA Council
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  Speaker 2: and its president Yannie and Fantina, and a lot of
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  Speaker 2: the time those are block votes according to their continental
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  Speaker 2: confederation stants. For instance, CAF the African Confederation recently said
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  Speaker 2: that Infantina would get their backing in his bid to
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  Speaker 2: run for a fourth presidential term next year, and that
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  Speaker 2: adds up to over fifty on over a quarter of
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  Speaker 2: the global votes.
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  Speaker 5: A lot of people asking as well whether FIFA is nonprofit.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it is. That's how it's registered as a company
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  Speaker 2: under Swiss law enjoys a number of tax breaks because
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  Speaker 2: of that. Now the billions that it makes from its competitions,
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  Speaker 2: especially the World Cup should then be used to aid
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  Speaker 2: the development of the global game pumped back into football globally,
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  Speaker 2: not all of it, though in FIFA's most recent financial
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  Speaker 2: report they've also got about three billion dollars always sitting
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  Speaker 2: there in reserve, a bit of a contingency pot. Part
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  Speaker 2: of the backlash to all this is that though FIFA
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  Speaker 2: feel that they'll be able to make more money for football,
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  Speaker 2: investors if this is allowed, will certainly want to make
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  Speaker 2: a profit, and that money will almost certainly end up
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  Speaker 2: outside the game. That's the fear.
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  Speaker 5: And also people are asking for a reminder, who is
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  Speaker 5: Jihanni Infantino.
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  Speaker 2: Well, he's a huge figure in global sport football. Is
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  Speaker 2: born in Switzerland to Italian parents, got dual citizenship. He
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  Speaker 2: studied law. He's fifty six now, still relatively young for somebody,
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  Speaker 2: you know, with such huge experience and power in the game.
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  Speaker 2: Spend a long time in sports and football administration, his
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  Speaker 2: career taking off with UEFA, European football's governing body. Became
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  Speaker 2: their secretary general there. That's when we first got a
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  Speaker 2: feel of his sort of expansionist philosophy really and football.
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  Speaker 2: He increased the number of teams taking part in the Euros.
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  Speaker 2: But he's been FIFA president for the past ten years,
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  Speaker 2: taking over from the disgraced set Blatter and all the
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  Speaker 2: corruption scandals that he was partly involved in, and he
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  Speaker 2: got in on the ticket he was going to clean
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  Speaker 2: up FIFA after so many years of corruption. He's been
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  Speaker 2: in charge for three World Cups and of course the
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  Speaker 2: most recent one was the biggest in history with forty
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  Speaker 2: eight teams.
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  Speaker 5: Okay, well, the plans have been met with fury across
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  Speaker 5: much of the world, with condemnation from Europe, Asia and
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  Speaker 5: North America. Here's a flavor of some of that initial reaction.
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  Speaker 3: In an already fractious relationship. UEFA, European football's governing body,
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  Speaker 3: has reacted angrily over these proposals, saying this crosses a
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  Speaker 3: line that football's governing institutions should never cross. The soul
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  Speaker 3: and governance of football are not assets to trade, specially
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  Speaker 3: with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of
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  Speaker 3: us are the owners of football. It's not fifas to sell.
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  Speaker 1: The Football Association said they were completely unaware of this
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  Speaker 1: proposal and are deeply concerned, while Europe's Commissioner for Sports
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  Speaker 1: said the relentless commercialization of football has become corrosive. Hands
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  Speaker 1: off our game. The Prime Minister Annie Burnham hit out
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  Speaker 1: at FIFA, saying the World Cup is not a product.
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  Speaker 3: It is the greatest competition in.
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  Speaker 1: World sport and it was never anyone's to.
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  Speaker 5: Sell back to oli Oli. This talk of boycotts and
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  Speaker 5: emergency meetings being held, Why is the reaction so strong?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we heard from UEFA that was their initial statement.
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  Speaker 2: We've had a more recent one than that. This I
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  Speaker 2: think sums up the level of feeling from across the
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  Speaker 2: majority of people in the game. They say FIFA cannot
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  Speaker 2: continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends.
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  Speaker 2: They say that's their most recent statement. We can grow
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  Speaker 2: the game correctly. That is UEFA. They're holding an emergency
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  Speaker 2: meeting on Thursday, what forty eight hours after all this
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  Speaker 2: blew up many individual associations. As we've heard, they've expressed
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  Speaker 2: their concern over the proposals, that it's been sprung on
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  Speaker 2: them with no consultation. There was already disquire Remember off
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  Speaker 2: the back of the World Cup just gone, and how
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  Speaker 2: close Infantino have become with President Trump. The allegation of
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  Speaker 2: political interference with footballing matters as well. Remember following Balagan,
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  Speaker 2: the USA forward his suspension for a red card that
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  Speaker 2: was overturned. But now we've got this FIFA clearly looking
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  Speaker 2: to cash in in some way off the back of
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  Speaker 2: the World Cup. And what's also I think got people's
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  Speaker 2: backs up is that the potential investment group has got
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  Speaker 2: links to Trump's extended family. It just feels as if
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  Speaker 2: football's on the brink of a civil war. And so
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  Speaker 2: the nuclear option you mentioned Boycott's there. It would be
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  Speaker 2: some nations refusing to take part in FIFA run competitions.
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  Speaker 2: UEFA could hold the key to all this European nations
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  Speaker 2: and their clubs. They're the richest, the most successful. How
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  Speaker 2: likely is it, though, that Spain wouldn't defend their title
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  Speaker 2: in four years time at the next World Cup, in
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  Speaker 2: which they're also co hosts, by the way, or Spain's
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  Speaker 2: women also world champions, not traveling to Brazil next year
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  Speaker 2: to defend their title. But these are the kind of
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  Speaker 2: conversations and the baits that are being had.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, big questions. Well, Johnny Infantino is no stranger to
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  Speaker 5: controversy in this latest drama comes just after as all,
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  Speaker 5: he was saying, the twenty twenty six World Cup has
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  Speaker 5: wrapped up. During the tournament, FIFA faced criticism for high
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  Speaker 5: ticket prices. There's controversial hydration breaks, officials and fans being
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  Speaker 5: denied entry to the US And who could forget again
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  Speaker 5: that alleged political influence by President Trump over US forward
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  Speaker 5: Falaren Balagun's red card. It was overturned after Donald Trump
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  Speaker 5: called Johnny Infantino. The US President has since praised the
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  Speaker 5: tournament and Infantino take a listen.
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  Speaker 6: We congratulate Johnny Infantino and all of his staff and
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  Speaker 6: the incredible job they did. But this was one of
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  Speaker 6: the greatest events of any kind ever held. Has been
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  Speaker 6: a tournament like no other, filled with fierce competition, unforgettable moments,
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  Speaker 6: yet unforgettable moments, like probably the most unforgettable is when
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  Speaker 6: they gave that gentlemen, is it a rick?
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  Speaker 4: And I was forced to court Johnny. Just make a recommendation,
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  Speaker 4: I said, Johney, I'd like to make a recommendation. Let
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  Speaker 4: the guy into gim know. I didn't say that, I
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  Speaker 4: said I'd like to wage your complaint, and actually I didn't.
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  Speaker 4: I had no idea what was going to happen. But
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  Speaker 4: you know, it's so much better the way it worked out,
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  Speaker 4: because there's no controversy.
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  Speaker 5: When it comes to the selloff plans. An American venture
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  Speaker 5: capital firm called Thrive Eternal is set to lead the
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  Speaker 5: investor group. It was founded earlier this year by Josh Kushner,
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  Speaker 5: the brother in law of President Trump's daughter Ivanka. The
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  Speaker 5: proposal follows years of Infantino making overt attempts to deepen
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  Speaker 5: his and FIFA's ties to Donald Trump. To back to Oalie,
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  Speaker 5: what happens next?
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  Speaker 2: Then it's a timetable that FIFA have set out a
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  Speaker 2: deadline really and that they've urged the two hundred and
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  Speaker 2: eleven members all those global associations to meet September the nineteenth.
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  Speaker 2: They said, look, if you approve this new commercial arm
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  Speaker 2: by then you're going to get a sweetener. You can
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  Speaker 2: unlock a one off payment of twenty million dollars. That's
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  Speaker 2: not an awful lot for those cash rich associations that
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  Speaker 2: we mentioned a lot of them in UEFA in Europe, Germany, UK,
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  Speaker 2: the French, but that could certainly sway, many many others
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  Speaker 2: who haven't got that kind of money or what would
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  Speaker 2: take them years and years to actually make that amount
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  Speaker 2: of money, and that would be distributed in the new year.
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  Speaker 2: If they give the thumbs up to this proposal and
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  Speaker 2: that could be ratified, then at the FIFA Congress in March,
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  Speaker 2: when Infantino could become president as well for a record
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  Speaker 2: fourth term, that could be confirmed then as well. They
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  Speaker 2: vote on an awful lot of things at Congress. No
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  Speaker 2: one is running against him at the moment, and I
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  Speaker 2: think the final word of all this reaction and ease
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  Speaker 2: that we've been talking about to these proposals from Jianny
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  Speaker 2: Infantino and Arjavier Tebas are very powerful man. He runs
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  Speaker 2: La Liga in Spain, the top division there. He's accused
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  Speaker 2: Infantino of trying to buy votes. He says it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: seem like reform this, it seems like an electoral campaign
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  Speaker 2: financed with the future of football.
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  Speaker 5: Ollie, thank you very much. That's Ollie Foster, our sports presenter,
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  Speaker 5: and that is all you need to know about FIFA,
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  Speaker 5: Infantino and the World Cup boycott threat