Opposition to FIFA”s World Cup private equity plan grows as Asia warns of risks and Europeans meet

GENEVA: (Jul 30)  Global opposition to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan for selling a stake in World Cup revenue to private investors grew Thursday with Asia’s soccer leader warning members about threats to their own competitions.

“FIFA’s unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football,” the Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said in a letter to member federations.

The sheikh’s letter, seen by the Associated Press, circulated as European soccer body UEFA prepared to host an online meeting of its 55 national members on Thursday to shape a strategy for resisting Infantino’s plan.