Billions FKF Could Earn from FIFA’s Controversial Proposal to Sell World Cup Stake

UEFA reacted furiously to a proposal from FIFA that seeks to attract private investment into its competitions, including the World Cup, but for nations like Kenya, the move could be beneficial.

FIFA announced its intention to establish a new subsidiary, "FIFA Forward Enterprise" (FFE), to manage its commercial and event operations. The plan involves inviting third-party investors to acquire minority, non-controlling stakes in this new venture, with the goal of boosting "football development funding" to over $10 billion (£7.5 billion).

Initial reports from the Financial Times and The Times suggested the deal could be highly lucrative for FIFA president Gianni Infantino personally. FIFA later confirmed that, pending approval, the American venture capital firm Thrive Eternal is expected to lead the investor group.

Thrive was founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump.

In a statement, FIFA clarified it would maintain "exclusive authority over football governance, competitions, the international match calendar and all regulatory and sporting decisions."

This proposal has drawn the ire of UEFA, which has said FIFA is now “crossing a line that should not be crossed” and even threatened to boycott the World Cup, but the world football governing body insists this is part of boosting funding to all member associations.

“As part of its pitch, Fifa says all member associations will be able to access up to $20m (£15m) in "one-off capital" to fund development,” the BBC reports.

This means if it is approved, all the 211 member associations would benefit from increased funding.

Federation like Football Kenya Federation (FKF) would see their allocation of the FIFA Forward increase to $20m (Ksh2.59 billion) every four years then $22 million (Ksh2.8 billion) for 2031-2034 and $24 million (Ksh3 billion) for 2035 to 2038 up from the $8 million (Ksh1 billion) they currently receive every four-year cycle.

The contentious proposal is set to be a major talking point at the next FIFA Council meeting this autumn and could ultimately be put to a vote by all 211 member associations at the FIFA Congress in Morocco next March.

With Infantino still enjoying support from all the 54 African member associations, 41 North and Central American countries, a bigger chunk of 10 South American countries as well as Asian and Oceania nations, he could get huge backing for the controversial proposal since most of these associations would be happy with the financial boost.

However, with UEFA’s huge influence, it is still too early to judge how it will go but the proposal has sweet things to entice federations like Kenya to vote in its favour.