Aug 31 (Reuters) – Venture capitalist Josh Kushner said his company Thrive would not have become involved in FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell part of the commercial rights of the World Cup to private investors if they had known how it would play out.
Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, defended the principle of Infantino’s ill-fated FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal but said Thrive had not fully understood the politics of soccer.
Infantino withdrew the proposal, which valued the commercial rights of the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments at $20 billion, in late July in the face of a fierce backlash from European governing body UEFA and other stakeholders in the game.
“While we stand behind the motivations of FFE, we failed to appreciate the political dynamics of global football, and the lengths some would go to,” the American billionaire said in a statement on Monday.
“Thrive has a long track record of being a partner to all constituents. Had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved.”
UEFA last week asked a U.S. federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents from FIFA entities in Florida for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino, according to a court filing.
The filing, seen by Reuters, requests all communications between FIFA and Thrive and other investors and advisors over the FFE proposal.
Reuters has contacted FIFA for comment.
Thrive Capital was named by Infantino as the “anchor investor” in the proposal in his letter to FIFA’s 211 members in late July.
Although he has apologised for “errors” made during the aborted proposal, Infantino has subsequently defended the concept behind FFE as a vehicle to distribute more money to poorer national soccer federations.
Kushner echoed those comments in his statement.
“Money in football has historically been concentrated amongst a small group of countries,” he added.
“The idea behind FFE was to direct more capital and equity equally amongst all 211 member countries, providing significantly more investment to underdeveloped nations to nurture local talent, support grassroots football, enhance the fan experience, and ultimately grow the global game everywhere.
“It was an idea that every member association would vote on, not an obligation or determination.”
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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