One week ago, Gianni Infantino appeared impregnable. Fresh from a World Cup in North America that generated $15billion (£11bn) in revenues, the FIFA president had held court alongside Donald Trump at Trump Tower, describing the tournament as "the greatest human, social and cultural event mankind has ever witnessed." In front of a room of billionaires, extended Trump family members and soccer federation executives, he boasted on Instagram that he had already received pledges of support from more than 200 of FIFA's 211 member federations for re-election in 2027. He was so confident that he ended the tournament without the customary closing press conference — then took to Instagram to accuse critics of his leadership of "spreading hate," telling them to "meditate, pray or watch a football match" instead.

Seven days later, Infantino is the one under siege. His presidency is on the brink, and the speed of his downfall has been extraordinary.

A secret plan, hatched at Sun Valley

The crisis detonated on Tuesday when The Times and The Financial Times revealed what Infantino had hoped to unveil on his own terms: FIFA planned to sell a significant minority stake — roughly a fifth — in a new commercial entity, dubbed the FIFA Forward Enterprise, set up to run its showpiece events including the World Cup and Club World Cup. The investor group was led by Thrive Eternal, a U.S. investment fund run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, in a deal worth $4.2billion (£3.1bn) brokered through JP Morgan Chase.

The grand announcement had been pencilled in for the eve of the World Cup final at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, but was delayed — a source close to Thrive Capital said the decision to hold back was taken by Infantino himself. By then, however, Infantino was already gossiping about the broad strokes of the plan to wealthy friends around the final, and the leak threw a grenade into the rollout. Several of his most trusted media advisors were still off work following the rigours of the World Cup.

There had been no open process, no public valuation, no auction to secure the most appropriate partner. A deck prepared by JP Morgan, seen by The Athletic, claimed FIFA required "billions" to deepen engagement with fans and argued the World Cup had been "under-monetized" when compared to the NFL, NBA and Premier League, despite its vast viewing figures.

Boycott threats and emergency summits

The backlash was ferocious and immediate. UEFA met on Thursday and announced that all 55 European members would boycott FIFA competitions unless the proposals were abandoned. Sources in the room said vice-president Laura McAllister was the first to raise the idea of a boycott and the first to talk about what comes next, while Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness raised the "what if" stages, including a potential emergency meeting of UEFA and the FIFA Council. In total, 33 people spoke — not one argued for more time, or for taking FIFA's money.

"Everyone who spoke said it was not acceptable," Klaveness said at a press conference on Friday, adding that federations felt unduly pressured by Infantino's 53-day window to sign off on the plan. "The word 'blackmail' was used."

Concacaf held its own hours-long meeting on Wednesday. The concept of private equity required an explanation at the start of the call, but there was widespread agreement that FIFA had failed to follow typical governance processes for an idea of this size. From the United States and Mexico to Haiti and Suriname, members rejected the plan — baffled by the lack of information and by why it was necessary to sell a piece of the World Cup at all. Mexico later issued a softer individual statement, appearing less closed to the concept. The Asian Football Confederation also rejected the proposals.

The U-turn that satisfied nobody

On Friday, Infantino pulled the plug. "Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place," he said. "Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed."

The retreat has not satisfied his fiercest critics — it has emboldened them. In a statement on Saturday, UEFA said: "We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account." It declared that "the current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," accused Infantino of failing to deliver on his 2016 promises of transparency, and branded the episode a "shabby, back room, opaque deal." Its conclusion carried an unmistakable warning: "This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun."

The English Football Association said it fully supported UEFA's position, calling for "a full and robust review of FIFA's leadership and governance." The Dutch federation (KNVB) spoke of a "fundamental breach of trust" and said it no longer had confidence in Infantino, while German federation president Bernd Neuendorf said Infantino had "acted arbitrarily, non-transparently and ultimately also irresponsibly in the interests of football." Klaveness urged the sport to "shift the internal culture away from fear and political positioning towards greater openness."

Concacaf struck a similar tone, calling the affair "a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first" and demanding a "comprehensive reckoning with this presidency." Both UEFA and Concacaf said on Saturday they would work with other confederations to disperse money already sitting in FIFA's bank accounts directly to member associations — a direct challenge to Infantino's traditional power of patronage — while UEFA's leadership wants its nations to withdraw the letters endorsing him for another term.

Allies jump ship

The damage has been compounded by defections from within. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's advisor and the former U.S. Soccer Federation president, resigned on Friday and condemned the proposal as a "bad deal." Chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, a former UEFA executive, told the Associated Press that staff had been "deceived" by Infantino, adding that he would sleep better for speaking out even if it cost him his job. "It is the project of one person," Lamour said. "The time has come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions." European executives, who admire Lamour, are desperate for him not to resign, viewing him as a voice of reason inside FIFA's Zurich headquarters.

Infantino's relationship with secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom has also deteriorated. Sources inside and outside FIFA say the Swede was not involved in drawing up the stake-sale plans and was unhappy to be cut out of discussions — an omission several federation executives could not comprehend for an idea of this magnitude. A FIFA spokesman said: "FIFA does not comment on speculation regarding internal relationships."

The Kushner connection

Suspicion around the plan only deepened because of the surname of its lead external investor. Infantino's relationship with the Kushner family stretches back almost a decade, to Trump's first term, when Jared Kushner's Office of American Innovation became the connecting point for the joint U.S.-Canada-Mexico 2026 bid. Trump's then-media advisor Jason Miller described that work in a text message as "all Jared," and Vanity Fair reported Kushner asked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "directly" for support as early as summer 2017. Both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain backed the North American bid.

Kushner's involvement outlasted Trump's first term: The Athletic previously revealed he helped coordinate the final push that saw MetLife Stadium beat AT&T Stadium for the 2026 final, speaking with Infantino and helping assemble a key dinner attended by New Jersey governor Phil Murphy. Infantino credited him with the idea of using Tiffany & Co to design the Club World Cup trophy — an ornament that ended up with Infantino's own name engraved on it twice — while Kushner's wife Ivanka Trump and son Theodore made the ceremonial first pick of the Club World Cup draw in Miami in December 2024.

According to the Financial Times, the plan for Joshua Kushner to invest in FIFA was first discussed at last year's Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, where Kushner and Greg Maffei, the former boss of Liberty Media, talked through the concept before taking it to Infantino. Talks ran for almost a year, but the terms sheet was only signed in the past couple of weeks. Several senior executives were already quietly furious about Infantino's public courting of Trump — FIFA pays rent to the Trump family business for Manhattan office space, and the president blindsided his own vice-presidents to hand Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. Mortgaging FIFA's future revenues to a fund owned by an extended member of Trump's family was, as one observer put it, always going to be a tinderbox.

What was it all for?

The purpose of the external investment remains unclear even to many inside football. Infantino and FIFA framed it as being about developing the global game — yet the organisation is sitting on billions in reserves, and businesses typically seek outside investment only when in distress or to fund vast infrastructure projects. Infantino had put forward a solution without defining the problem, and opponents tore it apart. UEFA accused him of "using our sport to enrich themselves and their friends." Several sources said Infantino wanted to create a commissioner-style role for himself in the new vehicle — an idea FIFA denies — and those who have worked with him describe an obsession with the tens of millions earned annually by U.S. sports commissioners, dwarfing his own salary of around $6m. He has also flirted with FIFA-branded hotels and stadiums, and The Athletic has been told he dispatched so-called "FIFA Legends" to hold exploratory talks with financial institutions, seeking to dazzle bankers with fame.

The commercial rationale may help explain this summer's hyper-commercialised World Cup — hydration breaks suited to television commercials, record ticket prices, a resale platform taking commission, a half-time show at the final — as well as the elasticity FIFA showed in its rules to enable Lionel Messi's Inter Miami to play at last year's Club World Cup and to suspend bans for Cristiano Ronaldo and Folarin Balogun so they could feature at the World Cup. Infantino insists he has no part in disciplinary processes.

The collateral damage is significant. European clubs were furious to learn that revenues from competitions they participate in — including the Club World Cup — could be sold off. Funding for the 2029 Club World Cup remains uncertain after the 2025 edition was bailed out by DAZN's $1billion broadcast deal, struck months before a Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund-owned company bought a stake in the broadcaster. A targeted $250m solidarity fund for clubs that did not compete in 2025 remains unpaid, with no formula agreed, and leading European clubs say nothing has been settled over future participation. Sponsors grew anxious — at least one considered going public before the plan was dropped — and executives at Bank of America, a FIFA sponsor, would likely have been surprised to see Infantino dealing with rival JP Morgan. Even the idea of expanding the World Cup to 64 teams, which Infantino had been publicly joking about with Trump only a fortnight ago, now looks far harder to pull off.

The numbers game

FIFA politics is ultimately arithmetic, and the sums are grim for Infantino. Even combined, UEFA's 55 members and Concacaf's 35 do not amount to a majority of the 211-strong electorate, and Infantino retains vocal backers: Qatar's FA says it "fully supports" him, the Moroccan federation called his withdrawal of the plan a "wise" decision and urged unity, and Lebanon added its backing on Saturday night. Africa and South America — his most reliable power bases — stayed quiet through the week, and his fate may hinge on how Asia fractures.

But the door is now ajar for challengers. According to numerous sources, Concacaf president Victor Montagliani — already a FIFA vice-president — is seriously considering a run at the presidency. Those close to him declined to comment, saying he is "round the clock" focused on Concacaf's response to the crisis. Well-placed UEFA sources say there is an increasing likelihood that any unity candidate to replace Infantino would come from outside Europe, backed by a European body prepared to coalesce behind them. Nominations must be submitted by November, ahead of the March 2027 election in Morocco.

Montagliani's speech at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver in April now reads like a manifesto-in-waiting: "When leadership serves the sport, not itself, the impossible becomes possible. Leadership is about service." Over the coming weeks, football will discover whether Infantino has the stomach for a prolonged fight — and whether FIFA's 211 federations have already decided they want someone else to provide that service.