July 31 (Reuters) – Carlos Cordeiro, senior advisor to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, resigned with immediate effect on Friday in protest at proposals to sell a stake in the World Cup, calling the plan “a bad deal for football”.
Cordeiro, a former banker and ex-U.S. Soccer Federation vice president hand-picked to help grow world soccer for FIFA, announced his immediate resignation, saying he could not “stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup”.
FIFA had proposed creating a $20-billion subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the World Cup and its other events, with a stake of up to 20% to be offered to external investors.
“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.”
In his statement, Cordeiro questioned why FIFA would consider raising $4.2 billion 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 Cordeiro saying they “risk being left behind” if they do not accept it.
“The FIFA President himself has highlighted the $15 billion 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 $4.2 billion makes little sense.”
As senior advisor to the FIFA President, Cordeiro’s remit was to “advise FIFA on new strategic initiatives to grow the game at all levels”.
Announcing the appointment in 2021, 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.
Prior to joining U.S. Soccer, he was a vice chairman at Goldman Sachs and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
(Reporting by Ossian Shine and Rohith Nair; Editing by Alex Richardson and Clare Fallon)
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