Former U.S. Soccer president quits role as top adviser to FIFA boss amid World Cup scandal

GENEVA — Two senior FIFA officials criticized Gianni Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan Friday with one resigning as a presidential adviser and a second saying staff were deceived by a project that must not go ahead.

Carlos Cordeiro, who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned in protest at the private equity plan.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro, a former U.S. Soccer Federation president and Goldman Sachs banker, said in a statement resigning as adviser to FIFA President Gianni Infantino that urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

Cordeiro was president from 2018-20, and vice president for two years before then. After resigning from U.S. Soccer amid a controversy in the women’s team’s battle for equal pay, FIFA hired him as a senior advisor to the organization and eventually Infantino.

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FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said in a statement to The Associated Press staff were “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness planning the private investor scheme and “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”

“It is the project of one person,” Lamour, a long-time colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA, wrote. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Lamour did not resign the post he held since 2024 but said he had a duty to his colleagues.

“And if that means I lose my job, then so be it” the French official said. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” Cordeiro said, calling the $20 billion commercial subsidiary “a bad deal for football.”

“Football has been central to my life, and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away” he said. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.”

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“FIFA already has access to extraordinary financial resources. The organization sits on billions of dollars in reserves and no debt,” Cordeiro said, noting FIFA’s revenue of $15 billion over the last four years tied to the men’s World Cup just ended.

“Against that backdrop, selling a permanent stake in football’s most valuable asset to raise $4.2 billion makes little sense. It is mortgaging football’s future without any compelling justification,” he said.

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Cordeiro said he shared five years working for FIFA alongside Infantino with “dedicated, principled people who care deeply about the game.”

“I hope they, too, will speak up,” he wrote, “because decisions of this magnitude should be made in the interests of football, not those who stand to profit from it.”

Infantino has been president of FIFA for more than 10 years and had seemed sure to be reelected unopposed next March. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to come forward.

UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA games and events until the plan is dropped. North America’s CONCACAF also rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation by a mid-September deadline.

Asia’s soccer body that has been a key ally in Infantino’s 11-year presidency opposed the investor plan and said FIFA must urgently review its management style.

The Asian statement came hours after FIFA blamed the media and doubled down on pursuing the project which now seems to have a majority of the 211 in opposition.

“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement early Friday. “We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each [member] has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”

The next FIFA event that would be targeted by the threatened European boycott is within weeks — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5. The senior women’s World Cup is next summer in Brazil.

In November, FIFA will hold an online congress to award the 2031 women’s World Cup to a joint bid of the U.S., Mexico, Jamaica, and Costa Rica; and the 2035 women’s World Cup to the British group of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Inquirer staff writer Jonathan Tannenwald contributed to this article.