FIFA’s top executives were given an ultimatum to sell stake in World Cup

NEW YORK – The five men should have been in a celebratory mood. FIFA had just pulled off a World Cup that broke records on a number of fronts. Its spectacular culmination, the final, was a day away from the July 19 kick-off.

But their mood was anything but jubilant. The men, a group of top directors known as the FIFA bureau of the management board, had been summoned to a hastily organised meeting at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, according to three people familiar with the discussions speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

The directors had until midnight to sign off on a plan that threatened to change football forever and would almost certainly lead to a major schism among the sport’s leaders.

The project purported to sell a 20 per cent stake in FIFA to a group of investors led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Such a move would put into private hands a portion of the World Cup, an event that has been run and controlled by world football governing body FIFA, a non-profit in Zurich, for 96 years.

The plans, drawn up over months amid great secrecy in conjunction with Joshua Kushner’s fund Thrive Eternal and JPMorganChase, had been kept secret from all but fewer than a handful of football executives.

The bureau’s role was to review significant financial transactions, but most of the five members had not heard about the plan, the three people said.

They left the Waldorf Astoria with the impression that FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who was not present, would be furious if they stalled, the three people said.

Stunned, some of the bureau’s members talked privately about their misgivings and the repercussions of saying no to a boss like Infantino, who wielded great power over their careers, according to one of the people.

Three members signed off on the agreement before the deadline, and two did not, the three people said. In favour were secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom, legal head Emilio Garcia and chief of staff Dan O’Toole.

Chief operating officer Kevin Lamour and finance head Thomas Peyer declined to back it.

With a majority vote, Infantino pressed ahead. The Times of London and the Financial Times reported Infantino’s plan on July 28, triggering a wave of outrage around the world.

Condemnation came from all corners of global football, with many high-powered figures declaring they had not been consulted. Several of Infantino’s top deputies have since come forward to say they, too, had been blindsided.

FIFA declined to comment. The bureau’s meeting on the Saturday before the World Cup final and the pressure that was placed on its members to sign off on the project have not been previously reported.

How it played out underscores the fact that Infantino had kept the idea from all but a tight inner circle, excluding many important figures inside FIFA, even as he developed the plan with Thrive Capital and JPMorgan.

Of the five bureau members, only O’Toole, a young staff member handpicked by Infantino to work with the bankers on the plan, had any meaningful role on the project, the three people said. He had been working on it for months.

The bureau’s approval was the first step in getting the plan over the line.

FIFA’s most important decisions typically go through a much larger group called the FIFA Council, which is made up of football leaders from around the world. They are not FIFA employees, but officials from member federations.

Infantino, however, wanted to find a way to get the deal without that requirement, the three people said.

European football’s governing body UEFA, a group made up of the continent’s 55 football-playing nations, led the opposition that followed, threatening a boycott of all FIFA events, including the World Cup.

Similar regional bodies for Asia, North and Central America and the Caribbean publicly offered their own criticism of the secretive process behind the plan and FIFA’s rushed demands for them to sign off on it.

Politicians, including British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, joined significant figures in the football world to denounce the plans.

Even though he had voted in favour, Grafstrom, who as FIFA’s secretary-general is the organisation’s top administrative official, described what had happened as “a sad and reproachable series of events” and attempted to draw a line separating the staff from Infantino.

On July 31, Infantino abandoned the plan.

On Aug 5, FIFA issued a joint communique to their members, signed by both Infantino and Grafstrom, apologising for what had happened and promising to learn from it.

That same day, Infantino held crisis talks with his senior staff in Morocco. The meeting started with two senior staff members calling for a show of support for their beleaguered boss, according to two of the people.

Infantino has shored up public support from several influential federations, like those from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and many of the smaller ones that rely on millions of dollars from FIFA for their operations.

What Infantino said to persuade Grafstrom and other FIFA leaders to back him remains unclear. He has posted a picture of himself and Grafstrom grinning with their thumbs up on Instagram.

Despite those efforts, the crisis is not over. In a statement on Aug 6, UEFA continued to threaten a boycott unless Infantino resigned.

NYTIMES