Thrive Capital founder Joshua Kushner says his firm’s Thrive Capital FIFA regrets are now clear: had it known how the aborted $4.2 billion World Cup investment plan would unfold, it would have walked away from the start.
Kushner made the admission in a statement published this week, saying Thrive ‘failed to appreciate the political dynamics of global football, and the lengths some would go to.’
‘Had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved,’ he said.
What the FIFA Forward Enterprise deal would have done
The failed proposal, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), would have created a commercial subsidiary holding FIFA’s broadcasting, licensing, and ticket-sale rights.
Thrive was set to be the lead investor alongside BANN Ventures chief executive Greg Maffei. The group would have put in as much as $4.2 billion for about 20% of the business, valuing it at about $20 billion.
Each of FIFA’s member associations would have received $20 million in immediate development funding, with more to follow. FIFA would have retained control while investors held minority, non-controlling stakes.
Kushner argued the plan would have allowed more capital to flow to ‘underdeveloped nations’ and their football infrastructure. ‘Money in football has historically been concentrated amongst a small group of countries,’ he said.
Critics fiercely rejected it, raising concerns about private profit-seeking interests entering a competition run by a nonprofit body. Several also attacked the process by which the plan was drawn up. FIFA and president Gianni Infantino scrapped the FFE in late July.
Thrive Capital FIFA regrets surface as UEFA builds criminal case
UEFA, the European governing body representing 55 member associations, is now preparing to file a criminal complaint in Switzerland alleging that Infantino and other FIFA officials developed the FFE with a small group of advisers and investors, bypassing the FIFA Council, regional confederations, and member associations.
RTE reports that UEFA filed a 56-page document in the Southern District of New York. Inside World Football reports the filings span three courts: Manhattan, Florida, and Colorado.
UEFA has asked those courts for permission to obtain documents and testimony through discovery for use in a potential Swiss criminal complaint against Infantino and other officials.
FIFA has pushed back in court filings, asking a US court to defer granting UEFA access to the documents or to give FIFA time to oppose the move by the end of the month. FIFA argues the foreign criminal proceeding does not yet exist and that UEFA lacks the authority to initiate one. It also accuses UEFA of a ‘smear campaign against it and its leadership’ and claims the European body is trying to maintain outsized influence over global football by blocking other regions from gaining financial strength.
In Florida, a federal court has already allowed FIFA to intervene and oppose UEFA’s discovery request. In New York, FIFA is seeking the same outcome and has asked that court to pause its proceedings while the Florida case resolves similar legal questions.
UEFA has said Kushner and Thrive are not personally suspected of wrongdoing. Thrive has engaged high-profile lawyer Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan.
Infantino, who faces re-election as FIFA president in March 2027, has apologised for errors surrounding the aborted proposal while still defending the underlying idea. He retains support from the African and South American confederations, which together represent 64 member associations, but several European associations have withdrawn their backing.
Kushner, for his part, stressed that no outcome was pre-determined. ‘It was an idea that every Member Association would vote on, not an obligation or determination,’ he said.
FIFA’s opposition to UEFA’s Florida discovery request is due by the end of the month.
