Infantino’s ‘right-hand man’ resigns and escalates crisis at FIFA

The new company could receive private investment and manage assets linked to tournaments such as the World Cup. Cordeiro stated that he did not participate in the preparation of the proposal and classified the initiative as harmful to the member federations, the sport and the future of FIFA itself.

"As a senior advisor to the FIFA President, former banker and lifelong football fan, I cannot remain silent while FIFA considers selling a portion of the World Cup. I want to be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal and I am unequivocally opposed to it," he declared.

Former president of the United States Football Federation, Cordeiro defended that the project be rejected. According to him, his experience of more than 35 years in the banking sector allows him to assess both the value of FIFA's commercial assets and the risks of transferring part of them to external investors.

The director also argued that the entity already has sufficient resources to finance the development of football without resorting to selling shares in its main assets.

"FIFA has access to extraordinary financial resources. The organization has billions in reserves, has no debt and the president himself highlighted revenues of US$15 billion between 2022 and 2026", he stated.

In Cordeiro's assessment, the intention to raise US$4.2 billion with the permanent transfer of part of commercial revenues does not present a convincing justification.

“Selling a permanent portion of football’s biggest asset would be mortgaging the future of the sport,” he said.

The former advisor added that FIFA's financial growth was achieved by experienced professionals from the organization itself, responsible for successive commercial records. For him, this performance weakens the argument that external investors would be necessary to increase the entity's revenues.

FIFA responds to UEFA's threat: "No one is selling football"

The entity chaired by Gianni Infantino once again defended the creation of FIFA Forward Enterprise and stated that the proposal will only move forward if it receives support from the majority of federations.