FIFA defends commercial subsidiary proposal after criticism from confederations

GENEVA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- FIFA on Friday responded to opposition from UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) over its proposal to establish a commercial subsidiary and sell minority stakes to private investors, saying consultations would continue and the plan would require approval from a majority of its 211 member associations.

World football's governing body said inaccurate media reports had disrupted the consultation process, but reaffirmed that discussions would proceed to allow member associations to make decisions "based on facts."

FIFA recently proposed establishing FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to manage the commercial activities and operational delivery of its major competitions, including the World Cup, with minority stakes in the subsidiary to be sold to external investors.

Under the plan, regular FIFA Forward funding would rise from the currently budgeted eight million dollars per association to 20 million dollars for the 2027-30 cycle, followed by 22 million and 24 million dollars in the subsequent two cycles.

FIFA said the proposal could bring its total planned development spending to more than 10 billion dollars over the next four years, supporting infrastructure, coaching, member association teams, competitions, grassroots football and the women's game.

The proposal has faced strong opposition from UEFA and other continental confederations. UEFA threatened its member association teams would not participate in any FIFA competition, including the World Cup, while the proposal remained under consideration.

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

FIFA said FFE would transfer its commercial activities and operational delivery of events into a subsidiary that it would permanently own and control, with the resulting commercial value shared among all 211 member associations.

As part of FFE, FIFA would establish the FIFA Fast Forward Programme (FFFP), and member associations which participate in this program have the opportunity to receive an additional one-off payment of up to 20 million dollars.

"FFE has been proposed solely to ensure that all FIFA Member Associations (MAs) have the opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the commercial opportunity of football in their respective countries [and regions], and that this does not come at the cost of either the spirit or the governance of FIFA or football itself."

"Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain," FIFA said.

Analysts have estimated that FFE could be valued at around 20 billion dollars, with the stakes to be sold to external investors worth more than four billion dollars.

FIFA said all parties had the right to oppose the proposal and seek further clarification, but argued that no single organization could claim to represent all 211 member associations.

"Each MA should be allowed to review the proposal and have a say in shaping their own future. These are the democratic principles of FIFA," FIFA said.

FIFA added that the components of the FFE proposal represented the starting point of the consultation process and remained open to approval, rejection or amendment.

"Without the support of the majority of MAs, FIFA's commercial activities would remain unchanged. FFE would not be established," FIFA said. ■