FIFA Proposes $20 Billion Stake Sale in Tournament Business, Prompting UEFA Boycott

On July 30, FIFA announced a plan to sell a private stake in its tournament business—including the World Cup—to a consortium led by Thrive Eternal, a fund managed by Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital. FIFA said the new commercial subsidiary would be valued at around $20 billion.

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The proposal reflects a broader shift toward U.S.-style sports finance. Sports-M&A activity reached $8 billion globally through July 13, according to LSEG data, while PitchBook reports that over a third of clubs in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues now have private-equity, venture-capital or private-credit backers. Analysts view the move as part of an “American century” for football, where private-equity funds increasingly influence club ownership and league structures.

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• FIFA: Confirmed that Thrive Eternal is expected to lead the investor group and described the transaction as a step toward modernising football’s commercial model.

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• UEFA: Issued a unanimous boycott resolution, warning that treating the World Cup as a tradable asset undermines the sport’s political and cultural foundations.

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UEFA’s opposition highlights a clash between commercial ambitions and football’s traditional governance. The federation’s statement emphasized that the World Cup’s value lies in its global cultural significance, not in financialisation, and warned that the sale could set a precedent for treating major tournaments as investment products.

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• “The World Cup is the people's World Cup,” — Roger Bennett, the CEO and founder of the Men in Blazers Media Network

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• “It has this power to make us feel so alive. And then it is so quickly replaced by the obverse, which is power struggles that make 'House of Dragons' seem like a rom-com in comparison.” — Roger Bennett, the CEO and founder of the Men in Blazers Media Network

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