With the confetti from the last World Cup barely cleared from the pitch, FIFA has found itself at the center of another controversy. This time the dispute isn’t about where the World Cup will be played, who qualified for the tournament, or whether a particular red card was appropriate.

Instead, the fight is over ownership.

Earlier this week, FIFA announced plans to create a new commercial entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), that would manage the commercial operations of its main competitions, including the men's and women's World Cups. FIFA would then sell a 21% interest in that company to outside investors. According to FIFA, each member association could receive up to $20 million in immediate funding for special projects, in addition to $20 million in FIFA Forward funding for the 2027–2030 cycle.

(Thrive Capital, founded by billionaire Josh Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law, would head up the proposed investor group.)

To move forward, FIFA needs the support of a majority of its member associations, along with the necessary approvals from the 37-member FIFA Council. That doesn’t look like a sure thing.

The proposal has already prompted a fierce response. UEFA, European football’s governing body, says it is prepared to boycott future FIFA competitions if the transaction moves forward. In a post published on Instagram, UEFA said, speaking for its member associations, that “We unanimously and unequivocally reject FIFA’s proposal to transfer ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors.”

The post went on to say, “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football's greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent. No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.”

The post has garnered over a million likes.

What FIFA is Proposing

Today, FIFA owns the commercial rights associated with its biggest tournaments like the World Cup. Those rights include broadcast agreements, sponsorships, licensing, hospitality, and other revenue streams tied to the World Cup and other international competitions.

Under the proposal, those operations would be transferred into a newly created company known as FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA would remain the controlling owner, but it would sell a 21% minority stake to those outside investors, who would then be entitled to a share of the company's future financial returns.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because businesses do this all the time. In the U.S., we’ve seen a similar playbook with private equity, an investment strategy where firms buy stakes in companies or subsidiaries, like accounting firms. The typical approach is to streamline operations and inject capital into the company to grow the business, then sell it—or pieces of it—for a profit.

That’s similar to what FIFA is proposing, at least initially. The setup mirrors how private equity typically begins. But nothing so far in FIFA’s proposal suggests the investors’ stake is meant to be flipped—it’s being........

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