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Everyone hates FIFA’s plan to sell the World Cup to private equity

Gianni Infantino’s proposal has many FIFA member associations up in arms.

Editor’s note, July 31, 8:15 pm ET: FIFA announced it was scrapping the plan to sell a stake in the World Cup.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup wasn’t perfect, but it was still pretty great. Legions of fans got to experience the US (and Canada, and Mexico), and Americans embraced visiting teams in turn. There was lots of extremely good football (soccer), and Cinderella teams like Cape Verde had a chance to shine.

Not even two weeks later, though, FIFA president Gianni Infantino is doing his best to kill the good vibes. He has a new proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity, attempting to capitalize on an enormously profitable tournament — with record revenue of about $15 billion in this year’s edition.

A daily, curiosity-driven guide to the big, weird, and fascinating ideas shaping the news cycle.

Specifically, his plan would create a new entity to run the World Cup, with FIFA the majority owner. Up to 21........

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