Former FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce attacks plan to sell World Cup stake

Former FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce has criticised a proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup and other tournaments to outside investors, warning that the plan could have caused serious damage to the image of football.

FIFA had proposed selling about 20% of a newly created entity responsible for managing its competitions, including the World Cup, for up to $4.2bn. The governing body withdrew the proposal after facing widespread criticism.

Boyce said the plan should never have been considered and argued that FIFA did not need external investment to develop the game internationally.

“There is no way this could be sold to investors,” Boyce told Reuters.

“When you invest, you are looking to make profits, while FIFA is a non-profit organisation and does not need external investors to develop football around the world.”

The former FIFA vice-president said supporters had been angered by the proposal and would now expect the governing body to take action to repair the damage.

“The fans felt upset about what happened, and they are now waiting to see what will be done to repair this damage,” he said.

Boyce also placed responsibility on FIFA president Gianni Infantino to restore confidence in the organisation, saying the controversy represented a major setback for him.

“The FIFA president holds a very important position and, if he wants to continue, he must start repairing what happened because of this proposal, which I believe was ridiculous,” he said.

“Infantino has several months to restore credibility. If he succeeds in doing so, he may receive enough support to continue, but what happened represents a major blow to him.”

The proposed investment structure triggered opposition from several of FIFA’s regional confederations.

UEFA had previously announced that its national teams would boycott FIFA competitions “as long as these proposals remained in place”. The European governing body’s stance added to the pressure on FIFA before the proposal was withdrawn.

CONCACAF also formally rejected the plan, while the Asian Football Confederation announced its opposition.

The Confederation of African Football, meanwhile, said it would hold an executive committee meeting to assess FIFA’s proposed “FIFA Forward Enterprise” initiative.

The proposal centred on creating a new organisation to oversee FIFA’s competitions and offering investors a minority stake in it. FIFA’s plan to raise as much as $4.2bn through the sale of approximately 20% of the entity prompted concerns over the role of commercial interests in the administration of the sport.

Boyce’s comments underline the continuing challenge facing Infantino and FIFA as they seek to recover trust among supporters and football authorities following the decision to put the idea forward.