Gianni Infantino’s reported plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to outside investors has prompted a strong backlash and placed his Fifa presidency under pressure. The article argues that the episode has intensified long-running concerns about Fifa’s governance, commercial priorities and political alliances, rather than representing an isolated controversy.

It traces the current crisis to Fifa’s 2010 decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, subsequent US corruption investigations and the 2015 arrests that led Sepp Blatter to resign. Michel Platini, once favoured to succeed Blatter, was suspended over a Fifa payment before later being cleared; Infantino then won the 2016 presidency, while Switzerland’s attorney general Michael Lauber later resigned after undisclosed meetings with Infantino during an investigation. The article also notes that the United States, Mexico and Canada secured the 2026 tournament after Infantino’s election, underscoring the political relationships surrounding Fifa’s leadership.