Pressure is growing on FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino following proposals for private investment in World Cups.
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Carlos Cordeiro, senior adviser to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, has resigned following the proposal by football’s governing body to sell a stake in its World Cups and events.
Cordeiro said on Friday that he is stepping down with immediate effect in protest at proposals to seek private investment in a newly formed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) venture, calling the plan “a bad deal for football”.
In FIFA’s plan, the FFE would create a $20bn subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events, with a stake of up to 20 percent to be offered to external investors. It would be bankrolled by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“Let me be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal and I oppose it unequivocally,” Cordeiro said in a statement.
“It is a bad deal for FIFA’s Member Associations, a bad deal for football and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game.”
Cordeiro had represented football’s global governing body on the White House Task Force for the 2026 World Cup, held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A former banker and ex-US Soccer Federation vice president, Cordeiro was hand-picked to help grow world football for FIFA.
In his statement, Cordeiro questioned why FIFA would consider raising $4.2bn by selling part of its “most valuable asset” when the organisation sits on billions of dollars in reserves and has no debt.
His resignation comes as FIFA’s 211 member associations face pressure to decide on the controversial proposal by September 19, with Infantino saying they “risk being left behind” if they do not accept it.
Cordeiro, who was appointed in 2021 by Infantino to help shape FIFA’s future, said the football body was “mortgaging football’s future without any compelling justification”.
“The FIFA President himself has highlighted the $15bn in revenue generated between 2022 and 2026,” Cordeiro added, saying FIFA already had the financial capacity to provide additional support to member associations from its existing resources.
“Against that backdrop, selling a permanent stake in football’s most valuable asset to raise $4.2bn makes little sense.”
As senior adviser to Infantino, Cordeiro’s remit was to “advise FIFA on new strategic initiatives to grow the game at all levels”.
Announcing the 2021 appointment of Cordeiro, Infantino had said: “Carlos is the right person to advise us as we modernise our regulatory framework and grow the sport in ways that advance football for men, women and youth across the globe.”
Cordeiro built a long career in business and global investment banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and across Asia, advising governments and some of the world’s largest international companies.
Before joining US Soccer, he was a vice chairman at Goldman Sachs and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Despite the mounting opposition to the FFE, Switzerland-based FIFA said “incorrect media reports” this week had disrupted its planned consultation process but that it would press on with putting the proposal in front of its 211 national football associations.
“We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA (Member Association) has the ability to express its vote based on facts,” it said in a statement issued in the middle of the European night.
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