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Fifa President Gianni Infantino is under increasing pressure over his position - as at least 90 of football's 211 associations expressly reject his plan to sell off the World Cup to private investors.
It has been reported that the controversial president is losing support amid a re-election bid, with a growing belief that his attempt to privatise the World Cup would see him unable to stay in post.
LBC's Henry Riley explains how the proposal has been received across the football world.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
Are FIFA selling off football
0:02
The colourful character at the heart of football's governing body wants to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors
0:10
Gianni Infantino, who's no stranger to making news. Today I feel Arab
0:20
Today I feel African. Today I feel gay
0:35
Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker
0:46
And someone who's become best pals with the President of the United States
0:50
States. Thank you very much. And I just want to introduce a friend of mine who I just noticed
0:56
in the audience. He's in charge of a very small sport called here, soccer, over there, football
1:05
So nobody knows really what to call it. Johnny, thank you very much. The head of FIFA
1:09
is here. I can report to you that we have sold more tickets than any country anywhere in the
1:18
world at this stage of the game. And I think we probably broke all records before you even get close
1:23
And you have a big event on Friday at the Trump Kennedy Center – oh, excuse me, at
1:29
the Kennedy Center. Pardon me. Such a terrible mistake, Marco. At the Kennedy Center
1:40
And I look forward to seeing you there. But I want to congratulate you
1:43
No, it's really taken the world by storm. You've never done anything like what's happening in terms of ticket sales
1:52
I make a lot of enemies telling people, I'm sorry, I can't get you tickets. I just can't do it
1:56
But congratulations. You've done a fantastic job. A great leader in sports and a great gentleman
2:02
Thank you very much, Johnny. One more thing that could be useful for you
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You know, in soccer we have referees, right? And they have cards
2:15
yellow cards and red cards. Yellow card is a warning. And when you want to kick out someone
2:24
you show them a red card. That's true, that's true. That's very good
2:32
So this could be useful, I don't know. I like that. That's for you. I like that. So, you're part of the
2:37
Excuse me. One second Where are you from Trivial Sobri country I the best in seating to walk Except they had a little problem last time
2:49
Okay. Let me stand up, Johnny. You're part of the FIFA team
2:56
That's good. That's good. So much so that he even created an award for President Trump
3:02
the completely made-up FIFA Peace Prize. before giving you the floor mr president if i may say two words
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like everyone here in the room we see images of war all over the world
3:23
and like everyone we suffer for every child that dies we cry with every mother that loses
3:35
someone she loves. And we want to see hope. We want to see unity
3:46
We want to see a future. And I was lucky, Mr. President, to witness last, a few years ago, the Abraham Accord signatures
3:58
A few months ago in Sharm el-Sheikh, the peace in the Middle East agreement regarding Gaza
4:06
I was in Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, for the peace between Cambodia and Thailand
4:11
Yesterday here in Washington, the Washington peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC
4:20
well this is what we want from a leader a leader that cares about the people we want to live in a
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safe world in a safe environment we want to unite that's what we do here today that's what we'll do
4:38
at the world cup mr president and you definitely deserve the first FIFA peace prize for your
4:48
action for what you have obtained in your way, but you obtained it in an incredible way. And you
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can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire football community
4:59
or soccer community to help you make peace and make the world prosper all over the world
5:05
Thank you very much, Mr. President. The floor is all yours. But what exactly are Infantino's plans? Well, FIFA wants to create a commercial subsidiary to
5:15
run its main events, including its World Cups, and external investors would be able to buy stakes
5:21
in it It called the FIFA Forward Enterprise and he so keen to push it through that members like for instance the FA in England and Wales would receive 30 million pounds if they back his controversial proposal
5:34
and if they do so by the 19th of September this deadline they'll get 15 million pounds of that
5:41
cash early. Infantino says that it will democratize football. FIFA forward enterprise or FFE is
5:49
actually a proposal, an offer. It's part of a democratic process, a consultation process
5:59
And above all, it is an opportunity, but not an obligation. And as I said, it kicks off
6:09
the consultation process. It would simply commercialize and organize all FIFA-owned competitions. But people have pointed out there is another link to President Trump because this
6:23
proposal is expected to be led by investors at Thrive External. That's an American venture
6:29
capital firm that's founded by Joshua Kushner. Now, he happens to be the brother of U.S. President
6:35
Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It doesn't look like Infantino will get his wish
6:41
though. He has had support from the Confederation of African Football, but there's been stinging
6:46
criticism from other bodies like the Asian Football Confederation. It's not been backed
6:51
by the North and Central America, the Caribbean Association of Football and also UEFA, the Union
6:57
of European Football Associations. They're all furious about the plans. Now we spoke with Lars
7:03
Krista Olsen, the former chief executive of UEFA. The proposal is absolutely ridiculous
7:09
And I think there is a very strong statement from UEFA and also from others in Europe, like, for example, the European leagues and some associations like the FA
7:22
So and I think also I've seen some promising messages from other confederations also, because this is the tricky thing that Europe is, of course, not strong enough on its own to stop something like this
7:38
I hope the other confederations will join. I think Cattini made a statement some time ago saying that he obviously is very keen on being around the rich people of the world
7:56
And I think that is one of the reasons, I guess. Otherwise it difficult to see how an intelligent brain like Gianni Infantino could end up here But now he has to be stopped And there no support from Tom Graytrex who the chair of the Football Supporters Association I had to read it twice to quite believe that that had been proposed
8:21
in the way it was leaked. Just, as you said, a couple of weeks after the World Cup
8:27
when all of the heads of all the national associations were at the World Cup, pretty much
8:32
and none of them knew anything about it. And I think part of the reason why you've got all of the UEFA nations and CONCACAF and from parts of the Asian Federation as well, all in United, which is, as you said, a very hard thing to do in football politics, is partly because no one knew anything about it
8:50
and the idea that an individual or a small group of people at the head of FIFA
8:55
could do that without any reference to their members and then issue a very short deadline
8:59
I think it's absolutely understandable why people are in the position they're in
9:03
and right that UEFA have reacted in the way they have because it's the only card they've got to play. The plan needs to be passed by a vote of FIFA's 211 members
9:12
and he needs 106 votes, a simple majority, for his proposal to go through
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And if it does pass, there are those who think that we should boycott the whole tournament, such as former heads of the FA
9:25
David Bernstein was previously chairman of the FA. How would you sum up the extraordinary tenure that Pep Guardiola's had at your beloved team? Good morning
9:34
Good morning, Nick. Well, extraordinary is the right word. Clearly the greatest manager of the city we've ever had
9:43
And I think probably with Alex Ferguson, the greatest manager in English football since the Second World War
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It's an extraordinary record. To do what he's done over a decade, over 10 years, is so difficult
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To manage football at the top level and keep doing it and repeat the success is near impossible
10:04
So as a football manager at the highest level and parallel, it's absolutely fantastic
10:09
And now those around Infantino are quitting. There was a bombshell resignation of his senior advisor, Carlos Cordero, who's a former president of US soccer
10:20
Now, Infantino has led FIFA for 10 years. He succeeded a man called Sepp Blatter, who actually had to resign because of a corruption scandal
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And even Sepp Blatter thinks that this is all a terrible idea
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Infantino is feeling the heat but it's not actually known if there's any mechanism that can be triggered
10:40
in order to remove him but if there is the President of the United States might not be happy
10:45
but it looks like the rest of football might be relieved but actually it doesn't look like they have anything to worry about
10:51
because Gianni Infantino is hopeless on the pitch
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