- After World Cup investment plan sparked strong backlash
Gianni Infantino has proposed a review of FIFA’s decision-making structure after the strong backlash against the shelved investment plan FIFA Forward Enterprise.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino has proposed a broad overhaul of how world football’s governing body makes major decisions – a move to address the governance issues that arose after the collapse of the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise project.
In a letter sent to the members of FIFA’s Council and the presidents of all 211 national federations, Infantino says FIFA should consider whether an independent external review is necessary to scrutinize the framework for major strategic ventures. He has also proposed a structured consultation round involving the six continental confederations, national federations and other stakeholders.
The exercise could examine the respective roles of the FIFA president, the council agency, the 37-member FIFA Council and Congress – and at the same time assess whether major initiatives require broader consultation before they are launched. The first proposals are expected to be discussed when the FIFA Council meets on October 15.
The move comes after the extraordinary backlash against FIFA Forward Enterprise, an ambitious commercial project that would place a significant portion of FIFA’s commercial and operational activities in a new subsidiary, while allowing external investors to buy a minority stake.
FIFA insisted throughout that it would permanently retain control of the proposed company and that investors would have no influence over sporting decisions. The project nevertheless sparked strong opposition, with UEFA and its 55 national federations unanimously rejecting the proposal and threatening to withdraw from FIFA competitions if it went ahead.
The Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF also questioned the process through which the plan had been developed, and criticism was increasingly directed not only at private investment, but at the level of consultation around a project of this size.
Infantino eventually withdrew the proposal in July, citing that the division it had created meant that it was no longer compatible with FIFA’s broader interests. FIFA subsequently made it clear that the project had been shelved.
However, the controversy continued after the proposal was withdrawn. Infantino has acknowledged that details of the plan were made public before FIFA’s intended internal process was completed, creating the impression that decisions in practice had already been made. He has always maintained that the proposal was never final, and that FIFA’s sporting authority and independence were never for sale.
FIFA has separately stated that a review of the FFE episode itself will be presented to the council – which means that the organization is now dealing with both questions about how the specific project was handled, and whether the broader decision-making structures require reform.
The pressure has also spread to FIFA’s finances. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani have called for an independent review of FIFA’s reserves, questioning why external investment was deemed necessary when the governing body is estimated to have reserves of around $6 billion at the end of the current financial cycle.
The debate comes at a sensitive time for Infantino, who is seeking a second term as FIFA president in March 2027. The council meeting on October 15 will now give the first indication of whether the collapse of FFE will lead to changes that extend beyond one shelved commercial project – to the way FIFA itself is governed.
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