This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed.
AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 1h ago
European soccer officials eye Qatari sports executive to challenge Infantino
BRUSSELS — European soccer officials are considering Qatari sports executive Nasser al-Khelaifi as a potential candidate in next year's election for FIFA’s top job, after President Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup to outside investors sent the plan’s critics scrambling to identify a challenger.
An investment firm with ties to President Donald Trump’s family is in a prime position to benefit from the plan, which sparked backlash this week from Europe’s politicians and sports leadership. The continental governing body UEFA will hold an emergency meeting Thursday with its 55 national federations to find a unified position, including a potential boycott of the next World Cup.
European soccer leaders are also intent on mounting a challenge to Infantino as he seeks a third full term as FIFA’s president in March. In conversations that began during last month’s World Cup, they have circled around al-Khelaifi as a serious contender, according to three senior international soccer officials granted anonymity to candidly reveal private discussions. Al-Khelaifi is the president of Paris Saint-Germain in France, runs the European Football Clubs umbrella group for the continent’s teams and is chair of the massive beIN Media empire.
Over the past decade, gas-rich Gulf monarchy Qatar has turned itself into the world's diplomatic switchboard, inserting itself into some of the most intractable international crises — from Afghanistan and Gaza to Ukraine and Sudan — while maintaining relations with both the U.S. and Iran. It also hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the culmination of a journey toward becoming a sports powerhouse sustained by deep investment.
As European soccer’s most influential business executive, al-Khelaifi is an intriguing candidate for the top job at FIFA. Backed by Qatar’s vast wealth, he has overseen a period of unprecedented success for Paris Saint-Germain, which has become Europe’s top soccer team. Al-Khelaifi stepped in to steady the club umbrella group, then called the European Clubs Association, in April 2021, when a breakaway plot by 12 top European clubs to create a “super league” threatened to blow up the continent’s soccer establishment.
On Wednesday evening, a representative for al-Khelaifi said: "Nasser has absolutely no ambition, no intention, no interest in the FIFA role, and he will continue to discreetly support all the institutions of world and European football."
“The stars have aligned,” said one European Union official, who is closely monitoring FIFA’s plan to sell stakes in its competitions, about the prospect of al-Khelaifi running the world governing body. “Whether he steps up is another thing.”
Earlier Wednesday, FIFA told its member associations that they had until Sept. 19 to sign up to Infantino’s plan, which would spin off a new company from the Swiss-based nonprofit that oversees international soccer. FIFA Forward Enterprise would own and manage the commercial rights to FIFA competitions — including broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing, licensing and related businesses.
Most controversially, it would sell a 20 percent stake in that company to private investors, valuing the business at around $20 billion.
A venture capital firm headed by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law and “volunteer” diplomat Jared Kushner, is lined up as the lead investor in the proposed deal — the latest sign of the American president’s influence over soccer’s governing body.
FIFA says it would retain control of the new subsidiary, with investors holding only minority, non-controlling stakes, while the deal unlocks billions in fresh capital that could be redistributed across world football.“Too little of football’s growing commercial value reaches the parts of the game that need it most,” Infantino said in a video released Wednesday. “Capturing that value requires additional expertise, additional insight, distinct from governing and developing the sport.”
To help win support, Infantino paired the proposal with a substantial increase in funding for FIFA’s member associations’ development program. If a majority of the 211 associations approves the plan, each would be eligible for up to $20 million in one-time subsidies, on top of increased payments in the coming years.
At FIFA’s annual Congress in Vancouver in April, Infantino told member associations that he planned to stand for another four-year term in 2027.
Infantino’s close relationship with Trump has drawn particular scrutiny from Europe. Earlier this month, after Trump intervened with Infantino to help overturn a suspension for a key U.S. player during the World Cup, 90 members of the European Parliament signed two letters challenging the organization over actions they said undermined the governing body’s political neutrality.
EuropeanQatariInfantinoAngerFIFA’sWorld CupParis SaintGermainNasserKhelaifiPresident Gianni Infantino’sPresident Donald Trump’s
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.
