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'Plan to sell private stakes in World Cup scrapped' FIFA president · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We are following some breaking news in the world of soccer.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: FIFA president a Gianni Infantino has confirmed that his plan
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to privatize the World Cup has been scrapped. The New
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: York Post was the first to report the collapse of
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the proposal. Infantino says that the division caused by the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: plan is the reason for the collapse. The deal, which
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: aimed to raise more than four billion US dollars, sparked
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  Speaker 1: outrage across the soccer world. All members of UEFA, Europe's
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: soccer governing body, voted to boycott all FIFA competitions, stating
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the World Cup is quote not for sale. CONCA, CAF
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  Speaker 1: and the Asian Football Confederation also rejected the proposal. So
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  Speaker 1: if you thought we were done talking about soccer just
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: because the World Cup was over, you were wrong. To
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  Speaker 1: talk more about FIFA. I want to bring in Brendan Dunlop.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: He's a sports broadcaster and author and the founder of
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Canadian Soccer Daily. Joining me from Toronto. Brendan, good to
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  Speaker 1: have you on the program.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me. The world of soccer never stops rolling, I.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Mean really, you know, and I think particularly at this
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  Speaker 1: time because of the World Cup there's this certainly a
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  Speaker 1: heightened interest in North America for all things soccer. This
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  Speaker 1: private investment plan collapsing. How significant is this?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this is massive. I do think it's the
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  Speaker 2: it's the hype, It's the that FIFA we're trying to
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  Speaker 2: capitalize on. And is why Gihnny and Fantino was so
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  Speaker 2: influenced by, you know, the powers that be in the
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: United States who have been using soccer and using FIFA
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  Speaker 2: over the last eighteen months or leading up to the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: World Cup to really have a seat in the room
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: and in this case try and kind of control the room,
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  Speaker 2: you know, by the room itself, not necessarily by soccer,
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  Speaker 2: but far too close to comfort for UEFA and for
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  Speaker 2: Conca calf And so I'm not surprised, to be honest,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: to see the deal fall through the way that it did,
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  Speaker 2: normally surprised at the timing in which Gianna and Fentino
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: thought got to strike while the iron is hot. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, this was a tournament projected to have pulled
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  Speaker 2: in eleven billion, and a few years ago when they'd
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  Speaker 2: said that that seemed out langentlandish, it seemed unrealistic. And
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  Speaker 2: then it looks like they walked away with fourteen to
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  Speaker 2: fifteen billion dollars. So I could see why Johnny and
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  Speaker 2: Fanentino was influenced that perhaps they'd left money on the
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  Speaker 2: table and then there was more out there. But the
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  Speaker 2: timing of this just was very poor, and you hadn't
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  Speaker 2: read the room, and he certainly has now because without
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  Speaker 2: you a feather would have been no party, certainly.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well yeah, it's hard to imagine a World
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  Speaker 1: Cup without those European countries being involved, and certainly I
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  Speaker 1: would think the value wouldn't be necessarily there if they
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  Speaker 1: weren't at the table for this. But so where do
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  Speaker 1: things go now? Because as you say, Johnny and Panino
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  Speaker 1: maybe didn't read the room here, and he is the
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  Speaker 1: current Viva president. Does he remain in that position and
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: for how much longer?
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  Speaker 2: That's a great question. I mean, it certainly seems like
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  Speaker 2: he's lost a lot of faith in a lot of backers.
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  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of people who may have
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  Speaker 2: questioned is leadership or questioned his agenda surrounding this World
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  Speaker 2: Cup but maybe still were in line with him, have
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  Speaker 2: fallen apart and fallen off from this, and I've had
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be very, very difficult for
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  Speaker 2: Johnnia and Fantino to keep his position and to win
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  Speaker 2: back any of the people that he may have lost
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  Speaker 2: through this. Alexander Seffrin, who is the head of YUEFA,
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  Speaker 2: the European Union, this is the second time essentially that
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  Speaker 2: he's he's saved football. When the big clubs tried to
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: break away from the Champions League with a European super
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  Speaker 2: League in twenty twenty one, it was his strong arm
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  Speaker 2: as the UEFA president that saw that fall apart. And
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  Speaker 2: it was almost the same timeline. It was the forty
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  Speaker 2: eight hours less than seventy two hours before this incredible
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  Speaker 2: deal that was going to reshape soccer completely collapsed. And
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  Speaker 2: we've come to the same situation here where Johnni Fantino
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  Speaker 2: has lost the support of a huge, huge backing in
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  Speaker 2: the soccer world and I don't know if he's going
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  Speaker 2: to win it back, which could open the door for
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Victim Montaglani, who's Canadian in the head of CONCACAF. But
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  Speaker 2: I think the dust's going to settle on this first
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  Speaker 2: and then they will come back to the table with
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  Speaker 2: something new. You know, Draft one didn't work, but when
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  Speaker 2: there's that much potential for money on the table, there
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  Speaker 2: will be a second draft.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Can you explain for those who were unfamiliar with how
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: FIFA worked. I mean when we say he may not
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: have the backing of others at the table, all the
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  Speaker 1: other players as it were within the world of soccer.
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  Speaker 1: You know, how does the president of FIFA continue or
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  Speaker 1: be replaced or what's the process here?
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  Speaker 2: It's a bit of a hybrid of being NHL commissioner
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  Speaker 2: like Gary Bettman, while also being elected like the Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister of Canada, which makes FIFA very very interesting. And
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  Speaker 2: FIFA does have in its operations, in its hierarchy, in
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  Speaker 2: its organization, a very royal family type of feel, with
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  Speaker 2: some of the chaos that we've seen associated with let's
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  Speaker 2: say the Trump administration. So I do think that in
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  Speaker 2: this navigating world where you've kind of blended the two together,
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  Speaker 2: you've found just we found ourselves in this situation where
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  Speaker 2: Johnny and Fantino is playing both elected president and steward
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  Speaker 2: of the game, and he has to have the backing
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  Speaker 2: and the votes of two hundred and eleven member nations,
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  Speaker 2: of which YUEFA has by far the strongest weight, and
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  Speaker 2: without YUEFA voting and backing him to keep a seat,
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  Speaker 2: and without Yuefa wanting to participate in the European Nations
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  Speaker 2: wanted to participate in the World Cup, you wouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: that at all. So as hard as a line as
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  Speaker 2: that was, you know, the next World Cup in twenty
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  Speaker 2: thirty is going to be co hosted by Spain and
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  Speaker 2: Portugal and Morocco. Would be very difficult to go forward
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  Speaker 2: with any of those plans if you didn't have UEFA involved.
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  Speaker 2: So that is why this this fell short and the
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  Speaker 2: steel collapse in the fashion that it did, going down
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  Speaker 2: in flames. But I do feel as though Infantino will
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  Speaker 2: come back with something different, but he's going to have
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  Speaker 2: to have a completely different approach.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I think it's I think FIFA has had
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  Speaker 1: controversies in the past, but have you ever seen anything
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  Speaker 1: like this play out globally in soccer?
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  Speaker 2: Well, this on a global scale with national teams. This
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  Speaker 2: is what makes it so unique and so close to
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  Speaker 2: home for so many, especially those in Canada who welcome
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  Speaker 2: the world and watched, you know, a forty eighteen World Cup,
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  Speaker 2: of which Canada played a significant role on and off
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  Speaker 2: the pitch. It hurts to see the game kind of
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  Speaker 2: go in this commercialized direction that feels very scary. I
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: do think that the possibilities for a growth of the
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  Speaker 2: game and the benefit of Canadian soccer that FIFA was
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: pushing and advocating for, I do think that there are
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: true to that. There's obviously positivity to any added investment,
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  Speaker 2: and the game in this country has needed it for
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  Speaker 2: so long. But this level of investment and the control
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  Speaker 2: and the selling off of the stake, that's what makes
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  Speaker 2: it so different. You then become beholden to your shareholders,
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  Speaker 2: and soccer is not a company. And that's exactly how
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  Speaker 2: those member nations felt, and U a fun conk Cap
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  Speaker 2: drew that line very hard in the sand for Infantino
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  Speaker 2: and Kushner and all of the backers that taught that
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  Speaker 2: this twenty billion dollar spinoff plan very similar to the
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  Speaker 2: model that's been used to bring Formula one globally to
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  Speaker 2: the top with Liberty Media, very similar structure and set up.
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  Speaker 2: It just won't work this way when you have those
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  Speaker 2: same stakeholders and investors controlling the operation of the tournaments
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  Speaker 2: and FIFA as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: Brendan Dumblop, a sports broadcaster and author and founder of
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Canadian Soccer Daily. Really great to have you on the program.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for having me. Have a great weekend.