Richard Masters Fifa criticism took centre stage on Thursday as the Premier League chief executive said the governing body had ‘pressed the self-destruct button’ over its now-abandoned plan to sell a stake in the World Cup’s commercial rights.
Masters told BBC Sport that Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s proposal to create a new company, Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), to manage the commercial and ticketing rights of all Fifa competitions had caused a ‘self-inflicted wound’. He backed the English Football Association’s withdrawal of support for Infantino and called for a new candidate to stand against him ahead of a presidential election scheduled for March.
Richard Masters Fifa criticism: ‘Self-destruct button has been pressed’
‘This is a problem of Fifa’s making,’ Masters said. ‘This is a self-inflicted wound. The organisation has pressed the self-destruct button, and the consequence of that flow now into the solutions that need to be found.’
The FFE plan would have seen 21% of the new company sold to a private investment group. According to CBS News, FFE was valued at $20 billion, with $4.2 billion set to go to investors. CNBC reported that Thrive Eternal, a private equity firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was expected to lead the proposed investor group.
The scheme was aborted after widespread criticism from several confederations, led by Uefa, which threatened a boycott of all Fifa competitions. Last week, Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation issued an open letter accusing Infantino of breaking trust ‘through deception’. The letter, signed by the presidents and general secretaries of the three bodies, said the controversy was fundamentally about ‘the integrity of the game, and the integrity of those elected to lead it.’
Infantino received backing from senior executives at a meeting in Morocco earlier this month. The confederations of Africa, South America and Oceania have also backed him. No candidate has yet put their name forward to stand against the president, with the deadline for nominations falling on 18 November.
Masters would not be drawn on specific names but said a ‘unity candidate’ was needed. ‘I think an emerging unity candidate should have on his or her agenda reform of Fifa, and perhaps even reform of the president’s role and how it interacts with those things,’ he said. ‘I don’t think Fifa should ever be contemplating selling off a stake in the World Cup. They’re a not-for-profit organisation. They should really be holding that competition in trust for the future of football.’
Balogun red card episode ‘a big issue’, says Masters
Masters also raised concerns over the handling of a red card shown to USA striker Folarin Balogun during the recent World Cup in North America. Balogun was sent off for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic in a last-32 tie the co-hosts won 2-0. President Donald Trump asked Fifa to review the automatic one-match ban; it was subsequently suspended for a year, allowing Balogun to play in the last-16 against Belgium. The United States lost that match 4-1.
‘We worry about that particular episode,’ Masters said. ‘I don’t understand why Fifa doesn’t have a very straightforward red card review process in place, like we do in the Premier League. Generally speaking, Fifa is supposed to uphold non-political interference within the game of football. In fact, it’s part of its promise that it won’t allow it to happen. So I think it’s a big issue, and it needs to be thought through properly.’
Chelsea punishment, Man City and the new Premier League season
Masters addressed several domestic matters in the same interview. On Chelsea’s recent punishment for breaching rules on payments to agents, he said the case was ‘very different’ from Profitability and Sustainability Rules breaches. Chelsea were fined £10 million and given a suspended ban from registering new players after admitting £47 million in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties between 2011 and 2018. A six-point deduction, suspended until 30 June 2027, was set aside on appeal.
Masters said the sanction agreement was overseen by an independent commission and that the ‘evidence base’ was incomplete because none of those involved in the payments remained at the club. ‘The alternative was to go down a contested commission route. I’m not sure we’d have been able to bring all of the charges that the club ultimately admitted to,’ he said.
On Manchester City, who face more than 100 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules, Masters accepted the process was ‘taking longer than expected’ but said the league had to allow it to reach ‘its natural conclusion’. City have always denied wrongdoing.
The new Premier League season begins on Friday, with champions Arsenal hosting promoted Coventry. Masters said the league was entering a ‘changing of the guard’ era, with a record nine new permanent managers starting the campaign, and expressed confidence in the quality of talent on show despite high-profile departures such as Rodri, set to join Barcelona from Manchester City.
