Projet d'investissements privés à la FIFA : Oui, Infantino est allé trop loin, mais ne donnons pas à l’UEFA le bon Dieu sans confession
It's the story of the frog that wanted to be as big as the ox. Gianni Infantino, the all-powerful head of FIFA, has decided to open the institution he leads to private investors. The goal is to increase funding for football development to $10 billion over the next four years.
This project has provoked a storm of protest in Europe, particularly at UEFA, but also in Asia and America, in the Concacaf zone.
Commercialization of football
These regional sports federations accuse the Italian-Swiss of wanting to sell the soul of football, of questioning FIFA's non-profit model by opening a commercial company called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) and of forging incestuous ties with the Trump clan by associating with the American venture capital firm Thrive Eternal of Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the White House tenant.
Faced with the outcry from the dissenters, FIFA abandoned the project.
UEFA hypocrisy
The governing body certainly did the right thing, because this project raised fears of the commercialization of football, but also of conflicts of interest, particularly with the Trump camp.
But does that mean we should award the prize for defending football to UEFA, which was the leader of the rebels?
The answer is no because the completion of this FIFA project would harm the influence of the richest European federations, which already control the largest share of world football money.
There is an element of hypocrisy in the fact that these wealthy federations, which receive the biggest sponsorship and TV rights checks, are the ones posing as defenders of football's integrity.
It should also be noted that most clubs playing in the Champions League, one of UEFA's flagship competitions, are owned by representatives of private investors. The examples of Chelsea and Inter Milan are telling. And these private investors already exert influence on UEFA decisions, such as the expansion of the Champions League.
It therefore seems obvious that the Union of European Football Associations is preventing FIFA from doing what it has largely admitted for many years.
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