Gianni Infantino is dangling $40 million in front of FIFA's 211 member associations, on one condition: they must back a contentious plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors. At the heart of the scheme is a new subsidiary, Fifa Forward Enterprise, which could raise as much as $10 billion in capital. Federations have until 19 September to sign up, and those that do will unlock the first $20 million tranche as early as January.
Not everyone is buying it. UEFA, European football's governing body, has come out swinging, declaring that "Fifa cannot continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends." England and Germany have condemned the process over its lack of transparency. Yet the reaction is far from unanimous. David Trunda, president of the Czech football association, sees a pragmatic upside. Money talks. Infantino, for his part, insists the proposal is merely "an offer, not an obligation." The president of La Liga, Spain's top flight, reads it very differently, accusing him of buying votes. That so-called golden opportunity, he argues, tears at the very foundations of how the game has always been run. The game is on. And the stakes are nothing less than the future of football itself.
