FIFA president scraps plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity

Following strong resistance from various international football associations, FIFA's President Gianni Infantino is scraping plans to sell World Cup profits to private equity. This comes after the international football community banned together to object the privatisation proposal, vowing to boycott the World Cup if the federation went ahead with the plan.

In a latest statement from FIFA's President Gianni Infantino, he states the division caused by the proposal to seek external investment are "no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place."

The statement furthers he intends to bring all interested parties back together "in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest" in the game, "with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need" support from the federation.

Infantino proposed creating a 20 billion-dollar company to run the World Cup with private investors including the family of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The announcement Tuesday drew criticism from the international football community which opposed the investment plans and vowed to boycott the World Cup if it went ahead.

Infantino's decision to halt investment plans comes a day after he said plans to explore the proposal will push forward, despite the unified reaction from the 55-member Union of European Football Associations, North America's CONCACAF and the Asia Football Association.

However, following the resignation of his senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, who sat on board of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, and his urging of other senior FIFA staff to speak out, Infantino delivered the decision to retract plans for private investment.

When asked on Friday at Camp David during a Cabinet meeting, Trump said Infantino did not speak to him about the proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup.