FIFA President Gianni Infantino has withdrawn his proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors, abandoning the plan less than 72 hours after it leaked and triggered widespread opposition within soccer's global governing body, The Wall Street Journal reported.

On Friday, Infantino announced that the initiative, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise, would not move forward. He acknowledged that the project had generated rifts that were no longer compatible with its original goals.

"Having listened carefully to all the views," Infantino said, "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."

The proposed deal would have generated $4.2 billion at an approximate $20 billion valuation by divesting roughly 20 percent of a newly created commercial entity. Under the terms, each of FIFA's 211 member federations would have received a one-time payment of $20 million. The concept marked an unprecedented departure for FIFA, which operates as a non-profit under Swiss law and has historically funded its operations and member distributions through broadcast and sponsorship revenues tied to four-year World Cup cycles rather than through external equity sales. The proposal reflected a broader trend of private capital flowing into global sports, with firms such as CVC Capital Partners and Silver Lake having taken stakes in leagues and club ownership groups in recent years.

The lead investor identified for the transaction was Thrive Eternal, a vehicle established by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner — Donald Trump's son-in-law. That connection had already attracted scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers prior to the plan's reversal.

Opposition mounted quickly across the sport's confederations. On Thursday, all 55 member associations of UEFA voted unanimously to boycott every FIFA competition if the sale proceeded. Such a walkout would have removed prominent soccer nations including Spain, France, and England from both the men's and women's World Cups. The confederations representing Asia and the North American and Caribbean region also rejected the proposal.

The backlash extended into Infantino's inner circle. Senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro — a former U.S. Soccer president who had served on the White House task force for the World Cup — resigned in protest. FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who chose not to step down, stated that staff had been misled by the secretive nature of the plan.

Trump, whose previous phone call urging FIFA to overturn a red card had raised questions about his relationship with Infantino, sought to distance himself from the matter on Friday. When asked at Camp David whether the FIFA president had consulted him regarding the sale, Trump told reporters: "No, I never spoke to him."