Was Trump involved in FIFA’s plan to sell World Cup stakes? The U.S. president breaks his silence
Shortly before Gianni Infantino announced the abandonment of the FFE proposal, U.S. president Donald Trump responded to questions about his involvement in the plan.
The U.S. president, Donald Trump, says he did not talk to Gianni Infantino about FIFA’s now-abandoned plan to sell stakes in its events to outside investors.
“No, I never spoke to him,” Trump told reporters on Friday, hours before the FIFA chief announced that the controversial proposal - which was to involve the brother-in-law of Trump’s daughter - “will not proceed”.
What was the FFE proposal?
Under the FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative (FFE), announced earlier this week and spearheaded by Infantino, global soccer’s governing body planned to create a subsidiary, valued at an estimated $20bn. Through this company, external investors were to be given the chance to buy minority stakes in FIFA tournaments, such as the World Cup.
Thrive Eternal, a firm headed up by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, had been earmarked to lead the FFE investor group. Jared Kushner, who has served as an advisor to the Trump administration, is married to Ivanka Trump, the president’s oldest daughter.
FFE abandoned amid major backlash
The FFE proposal was confirmed by FIFA on Tuesday, shortly after details of the plan had been revealed by the Times and the Financial Times.
It prompted a strong, immediate backlash from across the soccer world. UEFA, the European game’s governing authority, declared that its 55 member associations would boycott all FIFA competitions if FFE moved forward. “The World Cup is not for sale,” UEFA said in a statement on Thursday.
UEFA’s opposition was echoed by CONCACAF, the governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, which said on Thursday that its 41 member nations had “rejected” the proposal. On Friday, the Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity with UEFA and CONCACAF”.
Infantino initially sought to defend FFE, describing the plans as “the natural next step” for soccer. On Friday, FIFA added: “Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.”
Soon afterwards, however, Infantino announced FFE’s abandonment. “Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” the FIFA president said. “Our purpose has always been - and will always be - to unite and improve.”
Earlier, Infantino’s plans had also been dealt a significant blow when Carlos Cordeiro, a senior advisor to the FIFA president, resigned in protest at FFE. On Friday, Cordeiro branded the proposal a “bad deal for the future of the game”.
Statement attributable to the FIFA President
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) July 31, 2026
The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed. And more so, as we said…
Infantino’s “great friend”
Trump and Infantino have developed a close relationship in recent years, with the latter referring to the American president as “my great friend” in 2020. Last December, Infantino presented Trump with FIFA’s newly-created ‘peace prize’.
This summer, when the 2026 men’s World Cup was held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Trump sparked major controversy when he admitted he had personally spoken to Infantino to ask for a “review” of a red card shown to U.S. player Folarin Balogun, in the co-hosts’ round-of-32 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Following Trump’s intervention, FIFA’s disciplinary committee said it had decided to suspend Balogun’s automatic one-match ban, freeing the 25-year-old up to play in the U.S.’s last-16 defeat to Belgium.
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