Ex-Arsenal boss Wenger was ‘not aware’ of Infantino’s FIFA plan

FIFA executive Arsene Wenger has distanced himself from President Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investors and says it was “absolutely necessary” to drop the proposal.

Wenger’s statement on Tuesday on the controversy came after a preservation letter from UEFA, confirmed to Al Jazeera by European football’s governing body, was sent to FIFA, the world governing body.

Upon confirming the legal request was sent, UEFA said it would be making “no further comment at this stage”.

The Associated Press news agency, however, has reported that it has seen a letter from lawyers representing UEFA that has named Wenger, the French coaching great, among 18 executives whose data and communications should be retained as potential evidence.

“I was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports,” said Wenger, who was hired by Infantino in 2019 and is FIFA’s chief of global football development.

The statement by the former Arsenal coach did not name Infantino and comes after a weeklong furore across world football.

“The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency, and integrity,” Wenger wrote.

Infantino withdrew his $20bn proposal early on Saturday after a furious backlash by global football officials and organisations, including UEFA warning of a boycott of all FIFA games and events.

The plan would have created a subsidiary, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the money-making parts of the nonprofit football body’s work, including organising tournaments like the World Cup and selling broadcasting and sponsorship rights and tickets.

It proposed raising $4.2bn from investors by selling stakes amounting to about 20 percent in FFE, based on an equity valuation of $20bn.

The “anchor investor” would have been Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother, Jared Kushner, is a son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump.

FIFA’s 211 member federations – already the essential owners of the governing body as a nonprofit association under Swiss law – were offered $20m each. The deadline to accept was September 19.

They also were promised a doubling of their FIFA funding for the four years through 2030 to $20m instead of the previously announced $10m.

Infantino shared details of the project to FIFA management just one week after the July 19 final of the financially successful World Cup in North America that drove FIFA’s revenues to $15bn for the 2023-2026 commercial cycle, almost double the income tied to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Wenger said his FIFA duties were to “oversee the data analysis of the game, the FIFA online training centre, the development of youth education through 60 academies across 60 countries where they are most needed, and youth competitions around the world”.