The Asian Football Confederation said on Saturday it welcomed the scrapping of FIFA’s proposal to allow private investment in the World Cup.
AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa “welcomed the withdrawal of the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise,” the Kuala Lumpur-based body said in a statement.
Any initiative that may impact global football should be “presented and discussed with the Confederations, the FIFA Council, Member Associations (MAs) and other stakeholders in a timely, transparent and meaningful manner,” said the AFC, which represents 47 member nations, including Australia, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
FIFA, world football’s governing body, had floated the plan on Tuesday, saying it could raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for a new FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a commercial subsidiary it proposed to run events such as the World Cup and Club World Cup.
It said that, if approved, the project could provide each of FIFA’s 211 member associations with a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and increase their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20 million.
