Asian soccer body joins opposition to FIFA and Infantino’s World Cup private equity plan

GENEVA (AP) — Asia’s soccer body joined opposition to Gianni Infantino’s plan for private investors to buy stakes in the World Cup and said Friday FIFA must urgently review its management style.

The Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity” with European body UEFA and North America’s CONCACAF which on Thursday respectively threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions and rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation.

“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA’s 211 member federations that Infantino gave a Sept. 19 deadline to accept the $20 million offer.

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward” and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.

The statement did not name Infantino yet criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan plus failing to consult about a secretive proposal that was revealed Tuesday in media reports.

“Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed,” the AFC said. “Accordingly, the AFC calls upon FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework.”

The statement came hours after FIFA blamed the media and doubled down on pursuing the project which now seems to have a majority of the 211 members in opposition.

“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement early Friday. “We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”

The next FIFA event that would be targeted by the threatened European boycott is within weeks — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5. The four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due Nov. 23.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage