UEFA Keeps World Cup Boycott Threat Over FIFA's $4 Billion Stake Sale Fiasco

Q: Who were the mystery private investors ready to buy a massive stake in World Cup revenues?

The identified lead investor was Joshua Kushner’s firm, described in reports as Thrive Capital or its new holding company Thrive Eternal. FIFA and multiple outlets said Kushner’s vehicle was set to act as the “anchor investor” in the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise, the new commercial subsidiary that would have held World Cup and other tournament revenues. Beyond that, the wider investor group was never clearly disclosed. FIFA said only that it would seek a “geographically diversified” or “diverse international” pool of long-term minority investors, with J.P. Morgan helping lead the process. That lack of transparency was a central reason UEFA and other confederations attacked the plan. So the “mystery” investors were partly known and partly not. The only name consistently tied publicly to the bid was Joshua Kushner’s investment group. Reports also linked the proposal politically to the Kushner family because Joshua Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner. But FIFA did not publicly identify the rest of the proposed backers before abandoning the plan. In practical terms, the answer is that there was no fully revealed list of buyers. The one confirmed or widely reported anchor was Joshua Kushner’s Thrive entity, while the remaining private investors stayed unnamed.

3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 6

UEFA said Thursday it is still prepared to skip FIFA competitions, arguing FIFA has neither fully met its conditions nor repaired the damage from the abandoned World Cup stake-sale plan.
Two demands remain central: FIFA must definitively withdraw proposals to sell off major competitions and guarantee such attempts will not be repeated; UEFA also said its loss of confidence in Gianni Infantino still stands.
FIFA had apologized after a crisis meeting in Morocco and said Infantino retained the support of top staff, but UEFA dismissed that backing as irrelevant and said the meeting changed nothing.
Pressure on Infantino widened as FIFPRO accused him of abusing presidential power, the English FA withdrew support for his re-election, and Amnesty called for governance reforms.
The standoff follows FIFA's scrapped $4 billion plan to sell a 20% stake in a commercial subsidiary tied to World Cup profits, a move that opened the door to a challenge to Infantino's presidency.