Premier League chief criticizes FIFA for World Cup plan failures

Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, has torn into FIFA over its abandoned plan to sell off commercial and ticketing rights for the World Cup, calling it a move that effectively “pressed the self-destruct button” on the organization’s credibility. The target of his ire: the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan, an initiative that would have created a new entity to manage commercial rights for major competitions, then sold a 21% stake in it to private investors. What the plan proposed and why it collapsed UEFA led the opposition, joined by Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation. The resistance wasn’t polite disagreement. It escalated to threats of boycotting FIFA events entirely, with confederations alleging breaches of trust in how the plan was developed and communicated. Masters described the entire episode as a “self-inflicted wound.” In a BBC interview, Masters argued that FIFA, as a not-for-profit organization, has a duty to safeguard the World Cup for the future rather than exploring privatization. The Infantino problem The English Football Association has withdrawn its support for Infantino’s re-election bid. Infantino is seeking a fourth term in elections sc...