By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (August 13^th 2026)

FFE – FIFA’s Failed Enterprise

The 23^rd FIFA World Cup is over. But while the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino is fighting for his future after a catastrophic miscalculation on the FIFA Forward Enterprise that would have created a FIFA subsidiary which aimed to sell off a 20% stake in the World Cup to a consortium led by Joshua Kushner[1]. Infantino failed to inform his colleagues at FIFA and his plan leaked to the fury of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and its President Aleksandar Čeferin, in particular.

Before long Infantino’s plan collapsed as the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) joined UEFA in rejecting FFE and criticising FFE. Infantino was forced to abandon FFE. Smelling blood UEFA threatened to boycott future FIFA tournaments if Infantino stayed on as FIFA President. He now faces a battle to keep his job, knowing that it would not be difficult to trigger a vote of no confidence, although the next presidential election is scheduled for March 2027.

Infantino’s Lifeline

Infantino faces an angry battle – Europe does not want or need him and they have the power and they know it. Competitions without Europe’s best are not commercially viable. Football is seen as a money-maker – everyone wants they consider a fair share. UEFA has always enjoyed the largest slice of the cake. It offers the best leagues and great success. Its hosting rights at World Cups is absurd. Since Uruguay hosted the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 Europe has hosted eleven of the 23 World Cups. If the putative boycott does not materialise for 2030 and Portugal and world champions Spain co-host with Morocco, Europe will have hosted 50% of the World Cups – they have won ten of the eleven that they have hosted and three that were hosted outside of Europe, including once in South America, which won three times on home soil, three times on CONCACAF territory, twice in Asia and once in Europe – South America trails by three to Europe.

At the last World Cup Europe had a guaranteed allocation of a third of the teams – 16 out of 48. The allocation has always favoured Europe – the only exception was 1930 when several European teams refused to come. Africa had to wait 40 years to be allocated one automatic slot and they had to boycott the 1966 tournament to get that. Who says boycotts don’t work?

They haven’t forgotten their struggle to get what they consider an equitable slice of the cake. Their experience, which continues, has left them hungry. Don’t forget that South Africa should have hosted in 2006 – they were robbed by the late Charles Dempsey refusing to vote as he had been instructed to by the confederation that he represented. Joseph (Sepp) Blatter, the much-maligned Blatter had to ensure the rotation system was introduced to ensure that Africa got its turn. Only Oceania has hosted the World Cup less than Africa. And for years they endured the coefficient system which falsely assumed that there was and had always been an even playing field.

The African Football Confederation, the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), AFC and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have a legitimate gripe, and of them the OFC and CAF sat on the fence over FFE. $40m for each federation stands out to countries that lag behind in infrastructures and more. They need the resources and they tend to support those who promise it. In Africa’s case that is Infantino’s FIFA. If UEFA and its allies seriously want to unify football it has to address the massive historic imbalance and the effect it still perpetuates. If it refuses to redress Africa’s grievances, expect CAF’s members to support Infantino and his ilk.

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[1] Joshua Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.