Fifa abandoned proposals to sell a minority stake in the World Cup after a wave of opposition, including threats of a boycott and demands that president Gianni Infantino resign. The reversal raises a broader question: why did a group of technology investors want a piece of world football's showpiece tournament in the first place, and will such bids resurface?
According to Fifa's own confirmation that it had scrapped the scheme, Infantino said the plan to sell stakes in major competitions had been dropped following widespread pushback, ending an offer that would have given each of the 211 member associations $40m. That climbdown followed days of turmoil in which the FA voiced deep concern over the proposal and Uefa convened an emergency meeting to weigh a possible boycott.
At the centre of the failed bid was Thrive Eternal, an offshoot of venture capital firm Thrive Capital led by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and adviser to US President Donald Trump. Thrive Capital is best known for backing artificial intelligence ventures, including a major stake in OpenAI, but in April 2026 it spun off Thrive Eternal specifically to invest in assets it believes hold "qualities that cannot be replicated by technology."
Why did an AI-focused investment firm want a piece of football?
The logic, according to people familiar with the firm's strategy, is that football's deep roots in tradition, culture and community identity make it uniquely resistant to disruption from artificial intelligence, unlike industries such as film and music where AI is already replacing human creative work. Sport sits at the heart of Thrive Eternal's investment thesis, and a minority stake in the World Cup — via Fifa's proposed Forward Enterprise structure — was viewed internally as a natural extension of that approach.
Professor Simon Chadwick, who has spent three decades working across the global sports industry with fan groups, clubs and governing bodies including Fifa and Uefa, said the growing influence of financial investors meant crucial decisions about football's future were increasingly being made far from the pitch.
"It is almost as though it's crept up on us and a lot of people haven't really thought about what's happening."
He added that regardless of how fans or officials felt about it, the trend of private capital flowing into sport was already well under way.
"Whether people like it or not, private equity investment in sport is happening."
When did talks between Fifa and Thrive actually begin?
Discussions over the Fifa Forward Enterprise proposal reportedly began well before this summer's World Cup — jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico — with former Disney chief executive Bob Iger brought in as an adviser on the deal. Thrive Eternal was already active elsewhere in sport by the time talks with Fifa progressed: as part of its launch it agreed to acquire a stake in Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, and reports have suggested it is also exploring a bid for an incoming NBA franchise in Las Vegas.
The firm's public position is that "iconic franchises and cultural institutions rooted in tradition, identity, and shared experience" will not merely survive the rise of artificial intelligence but become more valuable because of it, according to language on its own website. Neither Kushner nor Thrive Eternal has publicly commented on the Fifa proposal or its collapse.
What did the investment deal actually offer?
A source close to Thrive said the firm's approach was never modelled on a conventional fund chasing fast returns. Investors prepared to commit the initial $4.2bn (£3.1bn) understood they might not see any payout for "decades," the source said, because Thrive Eternal is structured as a long-term holding company rather than a typical private equity vehicle.
Under the proposed valuation of $20bn, each Fifa member association stood to receive equity worth as much as $91m, though the source stressed that control of that equity would have remained with Fifa itself, not outside investors, and that each national association would have had the final say on participating.
"The idea of outside investment...was to channel more resources upfront to countries that wouldn't typically get access to outside funding - so they could invest in things like stadiums and training to be able to develop their game domestically."
Fifa has framed the broader goal of the Forward Enterprise structure as an attempt "to separate the business of football from the governance of the sport."
Did Fifa actually need the money?
Critics have questioned that premise. Fifa argued the World Cup remains "under-monetised," yet the 2026 tournament — expanded to 48 teams, with talk of an eventual 64-team format — is already on pace for record revenue thanks to hydration-break advertising, dynamic ticket pricing, and record-breaking broadcast and sponsorship deals. More teams mean more television audiences, and more audiences mean more commercial income, independent of any outside capital injection.
Christina Philippou, associate professor in accounting and sport finance at the University of Portsmouth, noted that individual clubs and other sports have turned to outside investors when cash flow was genuinely tight, but said that description does not fit Fifa's finances.
"Fifa are not in a position where they are desperate for money. In fact, they could very easily, with the money they already have, increase those payouts to the member associations. So there is no need to go external."
How does artificial intelligence already feature at the World Cup?
Even as the investment plan collapsed, AI is already deeply embedded in how the 2026 tournament will be run. Fifa and Lenovo announced a partnership to deploy AI-powered tournament tools, including "Football AI Pro," a generative-AI assistant made available to all 48 participating teams, according to Lenovo's press announcement. The partnership was formally unveiled at CES 2026, with Lenovo describing itself as providing the technological backbone for the tournament.
Fifa has said artificial intelligence will be woven into officiating, operations and fan experience throughout the 2026 competition, including AI-enabled camera stabilisation and 3D player avatars used for semi-automated offside decisions, as well as interactive tablets for supporters, according to a feature on the tournament's technology rollout. Separately, an industry analysis of Fifa's data systems described the plans as part of an effort to make the 2026 World Cup "one of the most data-intensive sporting events ever staged," with AI touching everything from team preparation to player protection and media coverage.
That heavy reliance on AI behind the scenes sits somewhat uneasily alongside Thrive Eternal's central investment argument — that football's human, cultural and traditional character is precisely what shields it from the technology reshaping other industries.
What was the scale of opposition inside football's governing bodies?
Uefa was unambiguous in its rejection of the plan, stating that the World Cup "is not for sale" and warning against treating the tournament as a financial investment product, according to a report on the dispute. The same report detailed that the proposed structure, Fifa Forward Enterprise, would have seen up to 20% of the new commercial subsidiary sold to private investors including Thrive Eternal.
Uefa moved to call together its 55 member associations for an emergency meeting to discuss the proposal and the possibility of a boycott, according to a separate report on the emergency talks, which also confirmed that Fifa intended the $4.2bn raised from minority, non-controlling investors to leave Fifa in sole control of both the new entity and football's governance more broadly. A detailed account of the fallout, chronicling the two weeks that rocked Fifa, described how the secret £3.1bn plan plunged Infantino into crisis and triggered the mass withdrawal of support that ultimately forced the U-turn.
What happens next?
Even with the World Cup stake off the table, Fifa has indicated it does not consider the wider question of outside investment closed. Fifa has said it will keep consulting on bringing private investors into its competitions despite continued opposition from Uefa and Concacaf, suggesting some version of the debate is likely to resurface. Uefa's emergency meeting of its 55 member associations, called to discuss a response to the plan and the prospect of a boycott, was expected to take place in the days following the proposal's exposure, according to reporting on the scheduled talks.
Thrive Eternal is understood to have accepted Fifa's decision to withdraw the current proposal, but people close to the firm say its broader interest in football, and in sport as an asset class resistant to AI disruption, remains unchanged.
Key Facts
- Fifa scrapped a plan to sell a minority stake in the World Cup after opposition from Uefa, Concacaf and the FA, and threats of a boycott.
- Thrive Eternal, led by Joshua Kushner, planned to help raise $4.2bn (£3.1bn) via Fifa's proposed Forward Enterprise structure, valuing the entity at $20bn.
- Each of Fifa's 211 member associations could have received equity worth up to $91m under the scrapped plan.
- Fifa and Lenovo have separately partnered to deploy AI tools including "Football AI Pro" and semi-automated offside technology for the 2026 World Cup.
- Fifa says it intends to keep consulting on private investment in its competitions despite the plan's collapse.
