Top soccer bosses are demanding FIFA President Gianni Infantino crack open a $6 billion piggy bank, arguing his controversial bid to sell off World Cup rights was completely unnecessary, according to a letter exclusively obtained by The Post.
In a Friday missive to Infantino, CONCACAF chief Victor Montagliani and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin proposed handing out at least $10 million to each of the 211 member associations. The payouts would total $2.1 billion over the next four years.
The joint letter blasts the defunct FIFA Forward Enterprise that drew widespread opposition from soccer bosses and fans alike. Infantino originally pitched the project as a required move to sell a “share” of FIFA competitions to outside investors to fund local soccer development.
But the two confederation chiefs say the governing body’s own books prove it is already swimming in cash.
“FIFA already has the capacity to deliver substantially more to its [member associations] from its own balance sheet without any sale of interests in its competitions,” the letter states.
“FIFA is on course to close 2023-26 with reserves of approximately USD 6 billion – the largest in its history, and considerably more than is required to carry FIFA through the deficit years that follow a World Cup,” the men wrote.
“Our analysis indicates that FIFA should make at least USD 10 million available to each of its 211 (member associations) over the 2027-30 cycle for investment in infrastructure and football development – an aggregate of approximately USD 2.1 billion,” they added. “This would be a one-off release of reserves, over and above the approved FIFA Forward Programme, which would continue in full as already committed.”
Even after a $2.1 billion payout, FIFA would still hold at least $1.5 billion in reserves, according to the missive.
The mutiny is the latest fallout from Infantino’s aborted scheme to sell World Cup commercial rights to Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital for $4.2 billion. Kushner is the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy, Jared Kushner.
That sweeping privatization push collapsed amid fierce opposition from European associations, as this newspaper exclusively reported.
“This money belongs to soccer. Infantino needs to release it now to the federations if he cares about the game,” said one UEFA insider. “If he doesn’t it just reinforces what we all believe: that he’s lining his own pockets at the expense of soccer.”
UEFA also recently launched a US lawsuit targeting FIFA’s American subsidiaries to unearth details on the Thrive Capital negotiations.
The European soccer body is hunting for discovery materials to fuel a potential Swiss criminal mismanagement complaint against Infantino.
The mounting legal pressure even forced the embattled FIFA boss to quietly skip a recent Hamptons event last month.
Now, Čeferin and Montagliani are pushing for an independent financial review. Releasing the reserves, they argue, will prove members don’t have to choose “between investment and integrity”.
The Post has sought comment from FIFA, UEFA and CONCACAF.
